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Residents in Medlow Bath near the site of a 1992 tanker crash site have been told to stop eating home-grown vegetables after official testing revealed their garden soil was laced with high levels of dangerous forever chemicals.
It comes as WaterNSW on Tuesday announced the second phase of its investigation into the source of the Blue Mountains PFAS contamination would take about 12 months due to its complexity. This could kick the issue beyond the March 2027 state election.
Meanwhile, community action group STOP PFAS says it has secured funding for a class-action lawsuit against Sydney Water for supplying contaminated water to 78,000 Blue Mountains residents for up to 32 years. They will fund blood tests at $500 each for up to 2000 residents since NSW Health has refused to do so.
“It’s an Erin Brockovich-level chemical contamination, and they’re trying to kick it off into the distance, and that’s why we’re having to take legal action, because we want this sorted sooner rather than later,” said STOP PFAS convenor Jon Dee.
PFAS – or per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals – are a family of synthetic chemicals that persist for long periods in the natural environment and have been linked to cancer, infertility and other health problems, even at low doses.
The Sydney Morning Herald was the first to reveal PFAS contamination in the Blue Mountains, and that the likely cause was a tanker crashing on the Great Western Highway in 1992 and the resulting blaze being extinguished with a firefighting foam containing PFAS. The chemicals contaminated two dams – Medlow Dam and Greaves Creek Dam – that WaterNSW disconnected from the drinking water supply in 2024, following Herald reporting.
The latest testing by the NSW Environment Protection Authority reveals the PFAS also permeated the groundwater underneath residential homes in Medlow Bath.
EPA officers started doorknocking properties in the Upper Blue Mountains township in November last year. They surveyed residents who lived near a drainage line that ran from the highway, and tested samples of soil and home-grown produce. They visited 16 homes, but participation was voluntary.
The agency confirmed it had detected two PFAS chemicals – PFOS and PFHx – in soil. The lowest result was below 0.003 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg), the threshold that triggers further investigation in the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan. The worst result was 5.3 times higher at 0.016mg/kg, and the EPA said the highest results were found closest to the crash site.
Another chemical, PFOA, was not detected in soil above the guideline value of 0.06 mg/kg, and the home-grown produce was not found to have any PFAS.
“In the absence of samples from all properties, as a precaution, all residents living along the drainage line have been provided with general advice to avoid eating home-grown fruits and vegetables, unless they are grown in raised garden beds with clean soil,” an EPA spokesperson said.
“Tailored advice has also been provided for individual households where required based on the results of their samples.”
The EPA said finding PFAS in the environment did not mean there was a health risk unless people actually ingested the chemicals through contaminated food or water.
Kate moved to Medlow Bath with her husband and four children, aged 11, nine, three and one, about a year ago. This masthead has agreed to withhold her surname.
The first she knew of a problem was when EPA officers knocked on her door. The results for their property were 0.014mg/kg of PFOS and PFHx in the soil – 4.7 times the investigation threshold.
“It was pretty upsetting,” Kate said. “We absolutely wouldn’t have bought that house in that location had we known that PFAS was a possible issue there. We really feel like we’re in a bind and there’s just nowhere to go.”
Kate, who is pregnant with her fifth child, said the children played in the yard and the youngest one still put things in his mouth. They also grew vegetables and had a dog who liked to dig.
The family would like to move, but can’t afford to pay the mortgage if they sell at a loss. She wants the EPA to order remediation.
WaterNSW, which manages the dams, on Tuesday announced it would co-ordinate a detailed site investigation, with eight other government agencies and two private consultants, over the next 12 months.
WaterNSW found in its first investigation last May that the source of the PFAS contamination could be narrowed to three potential sources: the 1992 tanker crash, a 2002 vehicle crash, and the Medlow Bath Rural Fire Service station.
Professor Ian Wright, a water expert at Western Sydney University, has an upcoming paper arguing the 1992 crash was the source. He shared preliminary results with the EPA before the agency decided to doorknock residents.
Wright said investigating all three sites could be done in two months – two weeks for preliminary results and another six weeks to review.
“How can you make something quite simple so slow and complex? And it roughly equates with when the next election is going to be held,” Wright said. “I don’t feel there’s a sense of urgency – it’s like they’re taking 10 years to build the foundations for an urgently required house.”
Coalition environment spokeswoman Jacqui Munro said: “We are forced to ask the question – is this timing political? This government has form when it comes to delaying PFAS test results.”
WaterNSW referred questions about the expected time frame to the Premier’s Department, which said: “The NSW government is hopeful the work can be completed ahead of that deadline, but our priority is completing a thorough investigation that provides the community with clear answers.”
If the 1992 crash is the source, it means Sydney Water customers in the Blue Mountains drank contaminated water for 32 years.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine guidelines say there is an increased risk of adverse health effects when the threshold of PFAS in blood exceeds 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/ml).
Dee from STOP PFAS said at least 41 Blue Mountains residents had already had blood tests and many had high levels, the highest so far being 57ng/ml.
Among them is Katoomba resident and pensioner Catherine Kennedy, whose PFAS levels are 21ng/ml. She believes this is the root cause of her liver and thyroid problems and high cholesterol, which are all conditions associated with PFAS exposure.
“I’d been unwell for many years,” Kennedy said. “I’d been saying something in my house is poisoning me, so when I realised I’d been drinking contaminated water for probably 30 years, the penny dropped.”
Kennedy is refusing to pay her water bill until Sydney Water managers talk to her, saying that “a contract has two sides and the product was not fit for purpose”.
On Monday, her security cameras captured Sydney Water meter contractors jumping over her locked gate. She came out to speak to them and they left.
A spokesperson said Sydney Water had made multiple attempts to contact her and had planned to restrict the water supply – which limits it to a minimal flow rate – rather than cut it off.
The utility says drinking water supplied from all nine of its water filtration plants is safe.
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