The Department of Defence says tonnes of 'highly contaminated' soil will be removed and destroyed as a chemical that was found have reached Katherine's drinking water spreads through waterways.
The Department of Defence says a chemical associated with various cancers and other health problems is continuing to spread more than half a decade after it was found to be leaching into the Katherine township's drinking water.
Department representative Dan Fankhauser told a town meeting in Katherine on Tuesday night PFAS had spread more than 25 kilometres to the suburb of Cossack."PFAS above health base guidance values were not previously found in this location during the investigation phase," Mr Fankhauser said. "Through these results we were able to notify affected property owners and provide them with water supply support and prevent them consuming PFAS impacted water above health base guidance values."PFAS leached into the Katherine River and spread kilometres through the highly connected aquifer during firefighting training at the Tindal RAAF Base between 1988 and 2004.
The government advised against eating fish caught from the river, the local swimming pool was closed, bore-reliant properties surrounding the base were delivered bottled water by Defence and residents lined up for blood tests.last year found there was no conclusive evidence of increased risk of cancer or disease.
But those views differed from researchers who were concerned about reproductive issues and other international health agencies, such as the
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