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Community Information Session Army Aviation Centre Oakey (AACO) Groundwater Investigation

Tuesday 2 December 2014

Community Information Session

• 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

Background

Image: Example of AFFF in use


Background

Image: PFCs are found in

Scotchgard, Teflon and Gore-

Tex clothing

• 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


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


• 2010: PFCs detected in groundwater on-

base

• 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)

The Investigation to date

Water use

survey

Community

information

session

Targeted bore

water

sampling

Targeted tank

& pool

sampling

Assisted

residents with

alternate water

access

Commenced

hydrogeological

& site history

studies


Selecting bores for sampling

• Bores are selected for sampling

based on technical requirements

and community requests

• Technical considerations:

osearches of registered

bores

odepth

o location

ogroundwater flow direction


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


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


Off-site 32

Total 81

How many of those bores show elevated levels of PFOA?

Location No. Bores


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


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


Town water assistance (x5)

Drinking water assistance

Bottled water assistance (x1) (no rainwater tank or town water connection available)

Tank water assistance (x6)

• As a precaution, Defence recommends not drinking groundwater

from within the investigation area until further notice (including re-

filling 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


December 2013 – October 2014:

• 155 enquiries received via the

project hotline and email,

comprises 112 incoming calls

and 43 incoming emails.

• The majority of these enquiries

have been received from mid-July

2014, onwards.

• The top ten issues raised by

stakeholders (in incoming calls

and emails) table.

Issues

General information 73

Bore water test 55

Water use and supply 27

General water solution 18

General health (human) 15

Consultation process 14

Health issues – through

drinking 12

Health issues – through skin

contact 11

Using bore water in swimming

pool 10

Test results 14


Next steps Ongoing

community

consultation 2014 - Detailed hydrogeological

review

- Desktop ecological study

- Data gaps analysis

- Additional preliminary human

health risk assessment

- Preliminary ecological risk

assessment

- Preliminary screening of

management options

2015 - 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


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

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