Residents living near Perth‘s Jandakot Airport have been warned their water is contaminated by a toxic firefighting chemical.
Fay Arcarco has watered her vegetable garden, bathed her grandchildren and drank from her groundwater tank for 22 years, but now is being told the water is too unsafe to use.
A letter from Jandakot Airport Holdings notified residents in the land to the north-west corner of the airport their water was contaminated by PFAS, the same toxic firefighting chemical which was revealed to have contaminated land surrounding Pearce Air Base in Bullsbrook in 2018.
Those notified near Jandakot Airport have been advised not to consume groundwater directly, use it for garden produce or fill their swimming pools with it.
“I can’t pick my tomatoes or any of these veggies,” Arcarco told 9News.
“We can’t use [the water] for drinking so they kindly gave us 50 litres of water yesterday but the reality is when I went to wash the rice last night I’m just tipping bottled water down the sink.”
PFAS is a contaminant from firefighting foam and was commonly used at airports in the 1990s.
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An investigation at Jandakot Airport 10 years ago found small areas of the land were contaminated, and now it is known that it has leached into the groundwater of residential properties.
In a statement, Jandakot Airport apologised for the inconvenience caused and will continue testing groundwater supplies.
The news comes as Bullsbrook residents fight for compensation over years of PFAS contaminated water, joining a class action involving more than 40,000 Australians.
“What is the solution?” Arcaro said.
“What are they going to do now that they have identified this chemical is moving in our environment, in our soil and in our water?”
