Community Information Session
Army Aviation Centre Oakey (AACO)
Groundwater Investigation
Tuesday 2 December 2014
Community Information Session
Background
• Fire fighting training activities
have occurred at the Army
Aviation Centre Oakey (AACO)
since the late 1970s
• Aqueous Film Forming Foam
(AFFF) is used in these training
activities
• AFFF has historically contained
perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs)
• Defence proactively assesses
groundwater on many of its
bases, including Oakey
Image: Example of AFFF in use
Community Information Session
Background
•
PFCs:
– Are man made chemicals which have been used in
common household and industrial products (e.g.
cleaning products, textiles and paper and
packaging products) for many years
– Are persistent in the environment and are present
at trace concentrations throughout the
environment
– There are many types of PFC
•
PFCs (Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and
Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)) were identified in
groundwater at Oakey during proactive groundwater
assessments
•
Foams which are known to contain PFOS and PFOA
are no longer used by Defence
Image: PFCs are found in
Scotchgard, Teflon and GoreTex clothing
Community Information Session
Background
• The AACO Groundwater Investigation:
– is a long-term environmental
investigation and assessment
– is focusing on understanding PFOS
and PFOA concentrations in the
environment
– may take several years to complete,
but information is being
progressively shared with the
community
– Investigation results will inform the
options for management strategies
and remediation approaches, if
required
Community Information Session
The Investigation to date
• 2010: PFCs detected in groundwater onbase
Community
information
session
• 2011 – 2013: further testing on-base
• Results indicated the impact may have
travelled beyond the AACO
• Late 2013: targeted sampling outside
the base, to the immediate west and
south-west
• 2014: further groundwater sampling in
the wider Oakey area
• Three community information sessions
(Dec 2012, Dec 2013 and July 2014)
Water use
survey
Targeted bore
water
sampling
Targeted tank
& pool
sampling
Assisted
residents with
alternate water
access
Commenced
hydrogeological
& site history
studies
Community Information Session
Selecting bores for sampling
• Bores are selected for sampling
based on technical requirements
and community requests
• Technical considerations:
o searches of registered
bores
o depth
o location
o groundwater flow direction
Community Information Session
Community bore test requests
• assessed on a case-by-case basis
• not all water bores within the
investigation area need to be
tested to assess the extent of the
groundwater contamination
• assessment process considers
how bore water is used at the
property
• priority given to residents using
bore water as a source of drinking
water
Community Information Session
Sampling Activities
How many bores have been tested?
Location
No. Bores
On-site (AACO Base) 64
Off-site
97
Total
161
How many of those bores elevated levels of PFOS?
Location
No. Bores
On-site (AACO Base) 49
Off-site
32
Total
81
How many of those bores show elevated levels of PFOA?
Location
No. Bores
On-site (AACO Base) 25
Off-site
7
Total
32
*Provisional Health Advisory (PHA) values
developed in 2009 by the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
represent a concentration above which
action should be taken to reduce exposure
to PFOS and PFOA in drinking water. The
PHA value for PFOS is 0.2 µg/L. The PHA
value for PFOA is 0.4 µg/L
Community Information Session
Results
Investigation and Detection
areas (note: lines are indicative only)
•The ‘detection area’ (indicated
in shades of blue) shows the
current understanding of the
area in which concentrations of
PFOS have been reported in
the groundwater
•The ‘investigation area’
(indicated by the black dotted
line) is the broader area beyond
the detection area, which is
being studied as part of
assessing the extent of the
contaminated groundwater
Community Information Session
Drinking water assistance
• As a precaution, Defence recommends not drinking groundwater
from within the investigation area until further notice (including refilling rainwater tanks that supply drinking water)
• Some residents in the detection area have relied on bore water for
household use, and have requested Defence’s assistance accessing
an alternate water supply to bore water
• All requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis
Tank water assistance (x6)
Town water assistance (x5)
Bottled water assistance (x1)
(no rainwater tank or town water connection available)
Community Information Session
Issues
December 2013 – October 2014:
• 155 enquiries received via the
General information
project hotline and email,
Bore water test
comprises 112 incoming calls
Water use and supply
and 43 incoming emails.
General water solution
• The majority of these enquiries
have been received from mid-July General health (human)
2014, onwards.
Consultation process
• The top ten issues raised by
Health issues – through
drinking
stakeholders (in incoming calls
Health issues – through skin
and emails) table.
73
55
27
18
15
14
12
11
contact
Using bore water in swimming
pool
10
Test results
14
Community Information Session
Next steps
Ongoing
community
consultation
2014
2015
- Detailed hydrogeological
review
- Desktop ecological study
- Data gaps analysis
- Additional preliminary human
health risk assessment
- Preliminary ecological risk
assessment
- Preliminary screening of
management options
- Sampling groundwater, soil and
sediment to support more
detailed risk assessments
- Update and refine risk
assessments
- Hydrogeological modelling
Assess options
for management
or remedial action
Community Information Session
Questions?
Contact us
Defence want to keep you informed:
• Phone: 1800 136 129 free call
(Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm)
• Website: www.defence.gov.au/id/oakey