Water treatment
Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (12:33): (498) Again I think that my question is for the Minister for Water, but I am happy to take direction. PFAS substances in the environment are a reality that all governments need to deal with. The Victorian government has known of the dangers of PFAS since at least 2017 and that PFOA was reclassified as definitively carcinogenic to human health just last year. It has been reported that earlier this month the US implemented the first legally enforceable drinking water standards for five PFAS compounds and two PFAS mixtures. My question is: can the minister direct me to anything specific in Victorian legislation or EPA guidance documents or anything specific in existence at all as of today that says that our water suppliers test specifically for PFAS compounds in our drinking water, and are they commensurate with the US standards?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:34): Thank you very much, Mrs Deeming, for your question, which is indeed a follow-up to earlier questions you have put to me in the water portfolio but which, as I think you know from a response that I have provided to you, is also something that crosses over pretty significantly with the environment portfolio. The regulation, as you know, of PFOS and PFAS in water and in soil is a matter for the environment portfolio.
We know, as you know all too well and as is referred to in various reports from not just around Australia but around the world, that PFAS can enter wastewater by a range of different processes. It can be included in chemicals in wastewater from medicines and the products that we use, which can travel downstream –
Moira Deeming: On a point of order, President, my first question was about our drinking water, not the recycled water.
The PRESIDENT: I think the minister was being responsive to the question that you asked.
Harriet SHING: Again, PFOS and PFAS do not actually care what kind of water is the subject of their occupation. Again, it travels across any different type of water treatment or other groundwater or surface water occurrence. It is not just in Victoria but around Australia and the world, and that is indeed what the US report has gone to. We have really stringent processes for the testing and for the treatment of drinking water in Victoria. I am sure that the USA’s new rules, as flagged in your question and as referred to in earlier correspondence and questions that you have put in this place as they relate to PFAS, will be of great importance in the review that is being undertaken between Victoria and the Commonwealth government.
Again, water does not care about which boundaries it traverses as far as states and territories are concerned, and Australian environmental regulators are working on a national approach to PFAS, including contributing to a current review of the PFAS national environmental plan. There is also guidance that has been developed by the EPA for water corporations around the way in which assessment and management of risks can take place. The EPA is developing a guidance document, which again I am very happy to make sure that you are apprised of updates on as they occur, to assist with the assessment and management of risks and contaminants as we may better come to understand them.
It is also about prevention and the way in which we prevent heavy metals and chemicals from entering any type of water supply around the state. We know that historically the use of PFOS and PFAS in firefighting activities was the subject of an inquiry in this Parliament two parliaments ago and that that led to a series of reforms and recommendations proposed around safety not just for natural resource management but also for people exposed to PFAS in water. We have got a range of research that is continuing to be undertaken. Again, there is a study on the uptake of emerging contaminants, and that relates to crops that are irrigated as well. This is not just about drinking water, and I am very happy to make sure that you are continuously updated on those matters as they evolve.
Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (12:37): I have also been reading all those documents you have been talking about and am very pleased about lots of the research that is being done, but there is also science that is already settled on these specific issues and lots of other countries already have standards and upper limits for PFAS. So my supplementary question is again related to the recycled water issue. Is there anything specifically related to PFAS testing in any EPA guidance document or in any legislation that already requires our recycled water to specifically be tested for PFAS compounds?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:38): Thank you, Mrs Deeming. I think your first question related to drinking water, and now we have moved into recycled water. Again, as it relates to the way in which water is tested, the EPA conducts tests on a regular basis across wastewater, recycled water and drinking water. Drinking water, just to be really clear, is regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act 2003, and recycled water, including as it relates to crop irrigation and to the use of water as we deploy it across a range of purposes to meet increase in demand, is something which is rigorously regulated at a national level and is also being fed into by the EPA’s work. We do need to make sure that the Department of Health is working alongside the EPA and water corporations around the deployment of resources for testing and for management and for risk mitigation, including the identification of sources of PFOS and PFAS and around the management of resources. Again, that is something which it is important to deliver transparency on. I am really happy to continue that discussion with you.