The small town of Ayr (population 10,000) is located in northern Queensland, about 70km south east of Townsville in sugarcane country. Since 2018 the town has had major issues in regards to PFAS in its drinking water supply. It is a national PFAS 'hotspot'. Friends of the Earth has just received data back concerning PFAS detections from Burdekin Shire, the local government responsible for drinking water in the town. Friends of the Earth was granted almost everything that was requested in the Right to Information Request that was sent to the shire in late March. The only information denied was PFAS detections at the Home Hill Swimming Pool. (Home Hill is located about 10km south of Ayr).
Note: The current drinking water guideline for PFOS+PFHxS is 0.07μg/L (70ng/L). The current guideline is being reviewed by the National Health and Medical Research Council. It has been proposed that the new guideline will see PFOS levels reduced to 0.004μg/L (4ng/L) and PFHxS reduced to 0.03μg/L (30ng/L). Such guideline changes will have implications for Ayr, where PFOS+PFHxS 'hovered' at or under the current guideline for years but were well above the proposed levels. Levels of PFOS in drinking water at Ayr have averaged at 3 times the new proposed guideline since 2018, but were well above that between 2018-2020. What was happening prior to 2018? Noone will ever know.
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The location of Ayr is marked with the pin.
The source of the PFAS in the towns water supply has been identified as the local fire station. Ayr Fire Station had recorded PFAS levels at up to 9100 times higher than the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. PFAS was apparently washed down gutters and drains on the site. Use of 3M Lightwater at the Fire Station was apparently stopped in 2003, but use of fire fighting foam containing PFAS in Australia occurred since the 1960's. For how many years was PFAS leaching from the fire station into Ayr's drinking water supply and for how long have residents been exposed to PFAS in their drinking water prior to 2018?
The fire station lies about 600 metres from the Nelsons Borefield, one of four borefields used to supply Ayr's drinking water. Three bores from this borefield were shut down as early as 2018 due to PFAS contamination, with the highest PFOS+PFHxS levels of 680ng/L recorded in another bore (shut down in 2020) in April 2023. Two bores, 3 & 4 continue to operate as emergency supplies despite Bore 3 having a PFOS+PFHxS detection of 78ng/L in October 2023 and Bore 4 detecting 73ng/L in October 2023.
Not all of Ayr's drinking water is supplied from the Nelsons borefield with several others being used. PFOS+PFHxS levels in Ayr's drinking water appear to have peaked in November 2019 at 91ng/L. Average PFOS+PFHxS levels between 2018-2020 were ~53ng/L. Average levels for PFOS 2018-2025 were 13.4ng/L with PFHxS averaging 7.6ng/L.
Burdekin Shire Council first notified the Queensland Health Department 'Notifications to the Regulator under Sections 102 or 102A of the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008' of notice of noncompliance with water quality criteria on 12/10/18 due to detections of combined PFHxS/PFOS at Ayr Water Tower of 0.084μg/L and Council Chambers Taps 0.077μg/L. Follow up testing found the high PFAS levels coming from bores 2, 5 and 3 and these bores were taken offline in 2018.
Of the 18 bores used to source drinking water for Ayr, 13 (72%) have had detections of PFAS. Of 13 'new' test bores established since 2018 at Ayr, 11 (84.6%) have detected PFAS.
$46.88 million was allocated in November 2023 by to Queensland Government to construct a new water treatment plant at Ayr. Construction is expected to be completed in 2026. A few years earlier the Queensland Government also allocated $12 million for installation of new bores at South Ayr and refurbishment of the South Ayr Water Treatment Plant. PFAS levels have been lowered substantially in drinking water since late 2024.
In June 2024 Queensland Fire and Emergency Service announced that it would be relocating from its existing Ayr site due to PFAS contamination.
Approximate location of PFAS detections. Light blue pins indicates detections in drinking water, with dark blue pins represent locations of bores where PFAS had been detected. The star pin represents Nelsons Bore 6 which recorded the highest amounts of PFAS.
Water for Ayr and Home Hill is provided by the Lower Burdekin Aquifer with maximum bore depths to 45m. The Ayr/Brandon water supply scheme consists of four borefields: South Ayr (borefields), Conlan Street, Nelsons Lagoon and Chambers. Supply from these four borefields changed substantially after the detection of PFAS chemicals in Nelsons Lagoon Borefield in March 2018. Nelsons borefield has historically provided the bulk of the supply water for Ayr, with minimal treatment.
Treated Water
The PFAS issue has obviously placed great stress on the towns water supply, meaning that due to lack of options, the Council has had to dilute PFAS levels. In 2023 Burdekin Shire stated "...The level at the Ayr Water Tower is controlled by the pressure set point at South Ayr. If water tower levels continue to drop, supply is supplemented with the Chambers Bores (15 and 16). If the water level in the water tower continues to fall (currently set at 5.1m) Nelsons Bores 3 and 4 are called to supplement supply. Council expects this will occur frequently in summer when demand is high..."
Ayr Water Tower recorded its highest PFHxS+PFOS levels on 26/11/19 at 91ng/L. The highest PFAS levels were also detected on the 26th of November 2019 in treated water at Coutts Park, Ross Street and Victoria Street.
Average annual PFOS+PFHxS levels on a yearly basis show that the years 2018-2020 saw the highest levels of water in the drinking water supply. It is impossible to determine how long prior to 2018 was Ayr's drinking water supply contaminated. Average PFOS levels between 2018 and 2025 were 13.4ng/L, with PFHxS averaging 7.6ng/L. PFAS detections have dropped off considerably since August 2024.
The data shows that the current Australian drinking water guidelines for PFHxS+PFOS were breached 5 times between 2018-2020.
However with a review currently being conducted by the National Health and Medical Research Council, with the expectation that the PFOS guideline will be reduced to 4ng/L, 54.3% of all detections would be in breach of the new proposed guidelines. The highest PFOS detection would be 15 times the proposed guideline level for PFOS.
The National Health and Medical Research Council, is also proposing to lower the PFHxS guideline to 30ng/L, 5.7% of all detections would be in breach of the new proposed guidelines.
Detections in drinking water have been dominated by PFOS and PFHxS, although a dozen seperate PFAS chemicals have been detected.
Chambers Bore Tap 15 averaged 9.8ng/L PFOS and 5.8ng/L PFHxS between 2018 and 2021. Chambers 15 bore is now only used in an emergency.
The Ayr fire station is marked with the fire pin. The rest of pins show the approximate locations of bore fields in Ayr (excluding Conlan Street). Blue pins mean positive for PFAS, green pins mean negative for PFAS. All of the green pins are located on the South Ayr borefields which were established in 2016. 15 and 16 refer to Chambers bores and the pins, 6, 4, 3 and 1 refer to the Nelsons Borefield (Bores 2 & 5) are not shown. The redpin 6 represents the location of where the highest levels of PFAS were detected particularly between August 2002 and April 2023. The other redpin highlights Bore 1 which was taken offline in 2018.
Chambers Borefield (Untreated Water)
Bore 15 spiked in August 2018 (PFOS 76ng/L and PFHxS 36ng/L). Average detections 2018-2025: PFOS 19.4ng/L, PFHxS 9.5ng/L. October 2023 also saw PFOS+PFHxS levels above current drinking water guideline. Chambers Bore 15 is only used in an emergency.
The highest PFHxS+PFOS levels in Bore 16 were 50ng/L 0n 4/6/24. Average detections 2018-2025: PFOS 16.8ng/L, PFHxS 6.7ng/L.
Nelsons Borefield PFAS (Untreated Water)
Due to the PFAS contamination issue Burdekin Shire only uses two bores in the Nelsons Borefield as a last resort. The rest have been taken offline. Every bore in the Nelsons Borefield has been impacted by PFAS and most are still monitored.
Bore 1 was taken offline in late 2018. PFAS levels appear to have peaked in September 2022.
Bore 2 was taken offline in late 2018.
Bore 3 was taken offline in late 2018 but can still be used in emergencies
Bore 4 is still used in the case of emergencies
Bore 5 was taken offline in late 2018.
Bore 6 was isolated after a high PFOS+PFHxS detection in August 2022 of 0.6μg/L. Bore 6 PFAS levels appear to have 'peaked in April 2023 at 0.68μg/L. Average levels at Bore 6 may be higher, due to only two tests between 12/5/21 and 10/8/22. Bore 6 has been retired from use.
South Ayr Borefield PFAS (Untreated Water)
Six operational bores operate in the South Ayr borefields. Two of these bores have detected PFAS chemicals. Bore 12 had a PFOS detection of 12ng/L and a PFHxS detection of 15ng/L in February 2020. Average PFOS detections at Bore 12 between May 2018 and September 2024 have been 1.1ng/L, with PFHxS averaging 2.6ng/L. Bore 14 only recorded a detection of PFBS and PFHxS in February 2020. Bore 12 is located ~1.9km south west of the Ayr fire station. Is the source of PFAS at Bore 12 the fire station or is it from somewhere else? PFAS detections at Bore 12 would be diluted with water from the other 5 bores and at South Ayr WTP.
PFAS detections at South Ayr borefield, Bore 12. Testing 9/5/18 revealed no PFAS. The next testing occurred on 18/2/20 and revealed PFAS. Follow up testing occurred only in July 2022. The graph is not indicative of the PFAS amounts, but it is strange that the council did not embark on more strenuous testing at borefield 12 after the high detections in February 2020.
The 4 Conlan Street bores are located just over 3km south west of the Ayr fire station and almost 2km south of the South Ayr borefields. 3 of the bores have detected PFHxS on one occasion only. Bore 4 recorded a detection of PFHxS on 1/8/18 and both bores 1 and 2 detected PFHxS on 18/2/20 at 1.4ng/L and 1.9ng/L respectively. It is unlikely that the source of the PFHxS was from the fire station.
Burdekin Shire Council has also tested for PFAS at 13 sites, with 10 recording PFAS. The test sites were located at: Junior Soccer Field (3), Anzac Park (2), Nelsons (6), Rugby Park (2)
If you want to help donate to our PFAS research you can do so here.
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