Groundwater bore testing in South West Rocks

Published on 13 December 2022

On Tuesday 13 December officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Kempsey Shire Council will be carrying out groundwater bore testing at homes in South West Rocks.

Staff will be knocking on doors of the properties immediately to the west of the former Shell and Caltex terminals on Phillip Drive where testing has revealed PFAS in soil samples.

The EPA carried out sampling of the creek system and lagoon in August and results demonstrated that there was no risk to recreational users. The concentration of PFAS found were all within the drinking water guidelines.

Testing has also been done on bore water samples of properties to the north of the former terminal sites.

The testing on Tuesday will focus on properties between 1-43 Phillip Drive, the three cul de saces running north of there, and properties on Wongarl Avenue as well as Emanuel, Currawong and Goolagong Crescents.

An adult must be home to provide consent for the experts to enter and take samples. 

There are 18 registered groundwater bores in this area. Any properties with unregistered groundwater bores will be able to be tested without any need for registration or reprisals.

More information

For more information:

Call the EPA on 131 555 (or (02) 9995 5555 from outside NSW).
Email info@epa.nsw.gov.au (please state what you are enquiring about in the subject line).
Post your query to EPA Head Office, Locked Bag 5022, Parramatta NSW 2124

Background

From the 1960s until the 1990s Shell and Caltex operated bulk oil terminals in South West Rocks.

These terminals were decommissioned to an industry level standard and both sites were acquired by developers wanting to remediate them to a higher residential level standard.

PFAS are a very stable chemical that do not break down easily and persist for a long time in the environment.

Due to their fire retardant, waterproofing and stain resistant qualities, these chemicals have been widely used in many industrial and consumer products worldwide such as food packaging, non-stick cookware, fabric, furniture and carpet stain protection applications, clothing, and some types of fire-fighting foam.

Advice released by the Australian Government in June 2019 states that PFAS has not been shown to cause disease in humans and “probably has minimal impact on human health”.

Further information about PFAS management is available at The NSW Government PFAS Investigation Program