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Blue Mountains resident Jon Dee.Credit: Glenn Hunt/ The Sydney Morning Herald

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) found in the Blue Mountains water supply weretraced to Medlow Dam and on Wednesday it was disconnected from the system. “Sydney Water has confirmed the water supplied from the Cascade water filtration plant to local communities is safe to consume and meets the Australian drinking water guidelines,” the WaterNSW spokesperson said.

But we take little from such assurances.

For months authorities have been playing down the presence of forever chemicals in Sydney’s water supply. Meanwhile,as the latest US research suggests there is no safe level with forever chemicals,our authorities resolutely have continued to hide behind outdated drinking water guidelines hopelessly at odds with the American findings.

Government authorities have been totally caught out and only prodded into action by theHerald’s revelation in June that there was widespread contamination of Australia’s water supplies,including drinking water supplies across Sydney.

In response to our articles,a Sydney Water spokesperson said there were “no known PFAS hotspots in our drinking water catchments”. However,authorities quietly commissioned tests to gauge the true extent of contamination and,upon discovering PFAS levels at the Cascade water filtration plant in the Blue Mountains were significantly higher than other sites,WaterNSW turned off Medlow Dam.

Following our reports,a federal parliament inquiry was announced to look into the dangers posed by cancer-causing forever chemicals,including the adequacy of Australia’s drinking water guidelines that permit a carcinogenic forever chemical in tap water at 140 times the level the US will allow.

The inquiry will report next August. We have previously advocated that Australia must adopt the US standards,routinely testing all drinking water supplies and making the results available to the public

Controlling the risk to public health is one of the objects of the NSW Public Health Act. When the denials,subsequent slowness to act and belated admissions became public,some were convinced the authorities had failed in their duty of care.

We asked Premier Chris Minns about the flawed performance of Sydney Water and WaterNSW. There were few answers:A spokesman for the premier said authorities started testing for PFAS “out of an abundance of caution”;the government “and our agencies understand the community’s concerns about PFAS,and we remain on guard”;further,the national regulator had been asked to hurry up with a review.

Minns is meandering along at the leisurely pace his government permitted water authorities with little consequences. Given the science,adoption of the US standard is an urgent public health necessity. It would also be a watershed moment requiring massive changes. But after months asleep at the wheel,the NSW government must take the lead and stop hiding behind past certainties.

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