THE settlement of three class actions against the federal government over the use of potentially dangerous chemicals at air forces bases has not had an impact for Bathurst residents living close to contaminated land.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The federal government has paid out more than $200 million in out-of-court settlements to people who took part in class actions based on the use of per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at air bases in Williamtown, Katherine (Northern Territory) and Oakey (Queensland).
The PFAS were present in firefighting foams used at the air bases and it has since been revealed the same foams were used for some time at Bathurst Airport, though in much smaller quantities.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
Bathurst Regional Council conducted soil testing at the airport in 2017 that found traces of PFAS and then started a process to determine the concentrations of the chemicals and how far from the airport they may have leeched.
Deputy mayor Ian North seized on news of the federal government settlements to seek an update on Bathurst's PFAS situation at a recent council meeting, and was told by environmental planning and building services director Neil Southorn that council was continuing to work through the process.
"The situation at Bathurst, of course, is much lower intensity, much lower scale, and it is working through the NSW EPA (Environment Protection Agency) at the moment just to finalise some of those details," Mr Southorn said.
Cr North also asked for a new report to come before councillors.
"... At the moment the status quo continues, that is that those properties which have some risk, they might be downstream of the airport, have been given guidelines as the use of water or not to use certain water on their land for certain purposes," MR Southorn said.
"It's a relatively low risk situation for Bathurst.
"In regard to a further report, we have no further information to bring and when we do certainly we will be reporting it to council."