CS Energy is aware the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is reviewing the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) in relation to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Callide Power Station Site General Manager Mick Hill said the health of the community was CS Energy’s key priority.
“CS Energy continues to follow the current Australian government guidelines and regularly monitors both groundwater and surface water on and offsite,” Mr Hill said.
“The review has proposed changes to human health-based drinking water guidelines and a final guideline is expected to be published in early 2025.
“We are working through what the proposed changes could mean for the Callide area and will keep the community informed as we do that. We will continue to take our advice from health experts.”
Mr Hill said CS Energy remained committed to supporting landholders near Callide Power Station whose drinking water source has PFAS levels outside the existing guidelines.
“We have supplied landholders with a range of alternative drinking water solutions including rainwater tanks, and potable and bottled water delivery.
“We understand the proposed changes to PFOS levels could cause concern for some landholders living near Callide Power Station. I would like to reassure landholders that we will maintain our support and encourage them to contact our PFAS team if they have concerns.”
Background
PFAS (per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are a group of manufactured chemicals present in firefighting foams that were historically used at various Australian sites including civil airports, defence bases, ports and large industrial sites. PFAS is also found in common products such as non-stick cooking pans, fabric, furniture and food packaging.
Callide Power Station’s use of PFAS over the years was infrequent, and in small quantities for training, testing and emergency response purposes. CS Energy removed firefighting foams containing non-compliant levels of PFAS in 2019 as part of a Queensland Government policy to phase out their use.
CS Energy has taken action to manage PFAS movement at the Callide Power Station site under an Environmental Evaluation (EE) framework. This has included taking over 2,000 water soil, sediment and water samples, hydrogeological studies, aquatic biota sampling of the local dam and creek, and soil and concrete remediation at PFAS source areas on site at Callide power station.
We have also installed an additional 11 bores to improve our ability to minimise water seepage offsite.
Visit the Callide PFAS monitoring page for more information.