Small town wants big response
Residents in the Queensland community of Oakey fear that groundwater chemicals may have affected the town water supply.
But the council says such contamination is impossible.
Toxic fire-fighting foam has leached into the groundwater from a Defence Department facility near the town.
Residents say they have not drunk from their bores for years, with Oakey town water now coming from Toowoomba.
Toowoomba Regional Council has conceded that groundwater mixed with the clean town supply between 2008 and 2012.
But the council insists that its reverse osmosis plant has filtered out toxins.
The Defence Department says it will not pay for further blood testing for residents, leaving many outraged that they could be exposed without knowing it.
Queensland Environment Minister Steven Miles wants the Defence Department to address concerns of Oakey residents.
“If it was the private sector proponent who had polluted an area in the way that the Department of Defence appears to have here, I know that the Queensland public would be demanding that the Environment Department take all action available to it,” he said.
“Now, because it is the Commonwealth Government, the Defence Department, there isn’t that range of options for the State Government to enforce the anti-pollution laws.”
Defence Minister Marise Payne will visit the town, but is not expected to say much.
“I will meet with Minister Dick and residents in Oakey at a mutually convenient date,’’ she said.
The federal Health Department has urged mothers not to avoid breastfeeding, even if they believe they are affected by the Oakey contamination issue.
United States guidelines say PFOS and PFOA can be passed through breast milk.