Inquiry demands 'immediate' supply of clean drinking water for Aboriginal community contaminated by PFAS
Paul McLeod says his village is proof of the health effects of PFAS "forever chemicals", as an inquiry recommends further testing. (ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss)
In short?
A federal inquiry has recommended free blood tests, cancer screening and the urgent supply of clean water for an Aboriginal community affected by PFAS.
A Wreck Bay elder has questioned what the recommendations will deliver for his community left scarred, with health and cultural issues.
What's next?
A dissenting report by Labor senators highlighted no definitive link between PFAS exposure and health effects.
In the past two years Uncle Paul McLeod has attended the funerals of more than 20 people in his community.
He says a majority died from cancer, including his wife who died in June.
"My wife had a double mastectomy, she ended up in dialysis; there are other women in the community who have had breast removals," he said.
His community of Wreck Bay, on the NSW South Coast, has been at the centre of a decades-long struggle over acknowledgement of the impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as "forever chemicals".
Uncle Paul believes the link is clear.
"It's really bad; the evidence and the proof is there,"he said.
Paul McLeod says he has been to more than 20 funerals for people from Wreck Bay in the past two years. (ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss)
Australia's public health position is that a link between exposure to the group of 14,000 PFAS chemicals, found in everyday items, and adverse health effects have yet to be established.
A federal Senate inquiry into the extent, regulation and management of PFAS in Australia made four recommendations aimed at supporting the Jervis Bay Territory community of Wreck Bay.
They included blood testing, cancer screening and the immediate supply of clean drinking water for the Wreck Bay community.
Land 'poisoned'
The recommendations are aimed at improving the evidence of a causal link between PFAS and the adverse health impacts of the community.
The contamination originated from the historic use of PFAS-containing firefighting foams at Defence bases at Jervis Bay.
In December 2020, a Defence study found PFAS-contaminated groundwater and surface water had run into and polluted Jervis Bay Territory creeks.
The community was prohibited from collecting and eating food in local waterways.
In 2023, the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council (WBACC) settled a class-action lawsuit against the Commonwealth for $22 million, in recognition of cultural loss and cultural impacts from PFAS contamination.
The inquiry heard from Wreck Bay residents who felt a sense of loss, grief and a disconnection from their land because of the contamination, with one elder telling the committee the land had been "poisoned".
A sign at Wreck Bay warning visitors of the presence of PFAS in the area. (Supplied: Office of Lidia Thorpe)
During a hearing in Nowra earlier this year, David Goldberg, who worked as a GP in Wreck Bay, linked the contamination to a "cancer cluster" in the bay.
Uncle Paul welcomed the recommendations for testing and health monitoring, but questioned what the government would do for the community.
"When you find out that PFAS is the cause of all the cancer, what are you going to do?" he said.
No clean drinking water
The inquiry heard the Wreck Bay residents had been without clean drinking water for years, as the village's water infrastructure, which is managed by the Commonwealth, was reaching its end of life.
"The bathroom floors are dirty from the shower water," Uncle Paul said.
"I have to clean the black crap around the sink and wipe it every two days because it builds up like dirty, black mud."
He said he bought six large water bottles a month for drinking.
"I pay for it out of my own pocket; we're not getting reimbursed for it."
The committee found community members felt "understandably uncomfortable and unsafe" drinking the brown water.
The recommendation is for clean water to be provided while a new 11.2-kilometre pipeline, which is being constructed at Wreck Bay to replace ageing infrastructure, is completed.
It will connect the community to Shoalhaven Water supplies for the first time.
Uncle Paul said temporary free drinking water was a "great idea", but he was skeptical about government timing.
"When are you going to do it? After we got another 20 deaths in the community?"
Official October water testing results found PFAS levels in drinking water at Wreck Bay remained within the levels recommended by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
Signs warn of the contamination at the creek. (ABC Illawarra: Kelly Fuller)
A dissenting report from Labor senators acknowledged a growing evidence of PFAS-related health concerns but stated that a "causative relationship between health effects and PFAS exposure has not been definitively established to date," the report said.
It warned of "net adverse outcomes and unintended consequences of ill-considered policy interventions", like one-size-fits-all regulatory approaches.