Our customers can be reassured that their drinking water is safe and compliant with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and current national best practice guidance.
We undertake routine testing of our treated water supplies at Sale, Briagolong and Seaspray for the PFAS family, including PFOS, PFHxS, and PFOA.
The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines specify limits for each of these chemicals.
Our testing results have always shown the levels for all three to be well below the limits contained in the national guidelines.
You can download recent and historical PFAS drinking water test results here.
About PFAS
PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals) is widespread in the environment and is commonly found in non-stick cookware, water resistant clothing, cleaning products and some personal care products.
We don’t use PFAS substances in our processes and never have.
We began routine testing for PFAS in the Sale, Seaspray and Briagolong water systems in 2017. This was a precautionary measure as we became aware of historical activities of other organisations in these areas, including the use of fire-fighting foam.
Our testing has proven the drinking water we provide is safe and compliant with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and current national best practice guidance.
The National Health and Medical Research Council Australian Drinking Water Guidelines provide health-based guideline values for three PFAS substances*. These guideline values are designed to be protective over a lifetime. Our testing results show that the levels of PFAS fall well below the drinking water guidelines.
You can also find out more about PFAS on the Australian Government’s PFAS website.
*Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulphonate (PFHxS), and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
Frequently asked questions
Have you ever detected PFAS in drinking water?
We’ve had three very low-level historical PFAS detections in our systems.
All were barely detectable and well below Australian Drinking Water Guidelines health-based guidance values.
The detections were:
- A single low-level detection of PFOS at Sale (2018).
- A single low-level detection of both PFOS and PFOA at Seaspray (2019).
- A single low-level detection of PFOA at Briagolong (2019).
Regular follow-up testing hasn’t detected any presence of PFOS or PFOA ever since.
Have there been any other detections across Gippsland Water’s service area?
No. We take a risk-based approach to managing water quality and test for PFOS and PFOA in the Sale, Briagolong and Seaspray systems based on our awareness of past activities undertaken by other parties.
Where did the low-level detections come from?
When PFOS and PFOA have been detected in our systems, we’ve followed up with repeat sampling, which has never returned a second detection. This suggests the results may have been false detections.
Detecting and accurately quantifying these low levels of PFAS requires highly sensitive methods and equipment.
There is also a high potential for cross-contamination from the sampling equipment used or other nearby items that could contain PFAS (for example, bug spray, food wrappers, waterproof clothing and sunscreen).
Does Gippsland Water test the water for PFAS in all towns?
We take a risk-based approach to managing water quality. This involves undertaking periodic risk assessments of all our catchments and if necessary, conducting follow-up testing. The only systems we undertake testing for PFAS on are Sale, Seaspray and Briagolong due to our awareness of past activities of other organisations in the area.