Community Information Session - Department of Defence · Community Information Session Background...
Transcript of Community Information Session - Department of Defence · Community Information Session Background...
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
Community Information Session
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
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
• 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
Community Information Session
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 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
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
Community Information Session
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
Community Information Session
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