The National Health and Medical Research Council is set to release new draft guidelines, reducing the allowable levels of substances known as "forever chemicals" in drinking water. PFAS chemicals have been linked to cancer, and once they're in the environment, they can take thousands of years to break down.
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00:00PFAS chemicals are man-made chemicals that are known for their heat, stain and water-resistant
00:07qualities.
00:08They are pervasive in the environment and also don't easily break down in the human
00:13body.
00:14They're found in everyday products like non-stick pans and makeup and were really widely used
00:19in things like firefighting foam back in the 1980s up until they were banned about a decade
00:25ago here in Australia.
00:27As a result, they're found quite widespread in the environment.
00:33Really the ground zero for PFAS chemicals and regulations is the United States where
00:39these chemicals were manufactured and there have been many, many issues with environmental
00:45concerns and a growing body of evidence of health impacts such as cancers like thyroid
00:50cancer and kidney cancer.
00:52Now the US EPA conducted a major review where it imposed some of the world's strictest guidelines
00:59when it comes to safe levels in drinking water.
01:02As a result, Australia was inspired somewhat and followed in the footsteps of the United
01:08States and conducted its own review.
01:10Now the draft guidelines of that review have been handed down and Australia is proposing
01:16to slash the safe levels of PFAS chemicals in Australian drinking water by up to three
01:22times of what we've got in place at the moment.
01:25So there are 14,000 chemicals of PFAS, four of them for which we measure and can test
01:32in Australia.
01:33One of those chemicals will be slashed to the same level as they have in the United
01:38States and the two others will be more lenient.
01:42Now these are draft guidelines and are open for public consultation until the end of November
01:48from which the National Health and Medical Research Council will review the consultation
01:54and the feedback for these regulations to then be reviewed, potentially changed, made
02:00tighter or even looser compared to what has been proposed today and they will come in
02:04place from April of next year.
02:07Then it is on to the state and territory governments who oversee and regulate those
02:13water suppliers to then make sure that their water supplies for all Australians reach these
02:18new standards.
02:20Now the biggest question everyone will have is, is our drinking water as it stands currently
02:25safe?
02:26There will be some looking back on some of our drinking water here in Australia and some
02:31of it will not be considered safe under these new guidelines.
02:35For example, they're in the Blue Mountains on the outskirts of Sydney in New South Wales.
02:41Recent tests have come up with concerning levels of PFOS and PFOS, these different types
02:46of chemicals, the PFAS chemicals and if we look at that with the view of these new proposed
02:52guidelines that drinking water will not be considered safe.
02:56So the hope is that state and territory governments use these new guidelines to conduct testing
03:01and then potentially impose technologies to try and remove PFAS or people can take their
03:06own steps and their own action to ensure that they're drinking the safest water possible.