The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has released the draft updated Australian Drinking Water Guidelines on PFAS.
The NHMRC is inviting stakeholder feedback on the updated PFAS Fact Sheet within the Guidelines that includes revised and newly established health-based guideline values. The draft PFAS fact sheet is supported by a NHMRC Statement on PFAS in drinking water, which provides a summary of the findings that informed the update.
The PFAS reviewed as part of this update include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA); perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS); perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS); perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its ammonium salt (GenX chemicals).
The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) has welcomed the draft guidelines, which propose health-protective levels for four PFAS:
- Lower levels for the three types of PFAS in the current guidelines (PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS)
- A new level for an additional PFAS chemical – PFBS.
The guidelines set health-protective values for how much of a substance a person can consume over their lifetime, without any increased risk to their health. The values are very conservative, and include a range of uncertainty factors, which always err on the side of caution, to ensure public health. They include a wide safety margin.
The proposed NHMRC advice and health-based guideline values are a draft only, and will not be considered final until they are published in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
WSAA said the water sector supports the NHMRC review and public consultation process, which is now open and will close on the 22 November. WSAA and its members will undertake a thorough review of the draft guidelines and provide any feedback, including on how they can be best implemented.
Further information on the NHMRC Review of PFAS in Australian drinking water is available on the NHMRC website: www.nhmrc.gov.au/health-advice/environmental-health/water/PFAS-review
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