28/1/25: Please note there were errors in the data sent through from Goulburn Valley Water in December 2024. This blog has been edited after the new data has been sent through by GVW. "The laboratory confirmed that there had been a conversion error in their system that wrongly multiplied the Limit of Reporting (LOR) by 1,000 for the GVW results. As an example, PFOS should have had an LOR of <2 PPT but was reported as <0.002 PPT. Consequently, the corresponding µg/L LOR became <0.000002. GVW apologises for the inconvenience but at the time of your Freedom of Information request GVW provided you the information as supplied by the testing laboratory."
Just before Christmas a Freedom of Information request was received by Friends of the Earth from Goulburn Valley Water (GVW). An amended and corrected spreadsheet was sent through by GVW in late January 2025. Friends of the Earth also received PFAS data from North East Water and Coliban Water in January. Results from the three water authorities reveals that PFAS has been detected in seven raw water supplies since 2022.
There was one serious breach to the Australian Drinking Guidelines, which occurred in Lake Mulwala (water supply for Yarrawonga) in July 2023. PFOS and PFHxS was detected at 326ng/L or 4.6 times higher than the Australian drinking water guideline. This is the highest PFAS incident in a drinking water supply in Victoria.
Our PFAS and Pesticide work is running on empty . Any donations are greatly appreciated.
Map showing PFAS detections (in ng/L) across Northern Victoria over the past few years. Dark Blue pins represent drinking water supplies in 2024, pink pins represent the highest levels of Total PFAS recorded by North East Water between 2018-2023. Green pins represent effluent from water water treatment plants and light blue pins represent waterway detections by the EPA. The highest PFAS levels, 687ug/L was recorded in lagoons near Bandiana Air Force base prior to 2020. The highest Total PFAS detection in a domestic water supply occurred at Lake Mulwala in July 2023. This incident is the highest reported PFAS levels recorded in Victoria. What was the source? The highest PFAS levels released from a waste water treatment plant in the region occurred at Wangaratta.
Lake Mulwala, showing where the PFAS incident occurred. Lake Mulwala provides the town of Yarrawonga with drinking water. At Mulwala on the NSW side of the border, PFAS has been detected at the Mulwala munitions factory. Little information is available about the levels detected from the Munitions factory. What was the source of PFAS entering Lake Mulwala? Why wasn't an investigation carried out? Were residents at Yarrawonga warned? Was there a short term release of PFAS chemicals in July 2023 that explains very high levels of PFAS detected?
PFAS testing for Goulburn Valley Water and Coliban Water only began in the second half of 2024. Goulburn Valley Water detected two seperate PFAS incidents in domestic water supplies. The most concerning was a PFOS detection of 2.7ng/L in Lake Nagambie in September. A PFOA detection of 3.4ng/L occurred at Barmah, also in September. Coliban Water only detected one PFAS incident at Korong Vale in June 2024, where PFOS was detected at 4ng/L. A follow up test revealed no PFAS. North East Water has been testing for PFAS chemicals since 2017. They test at several locations. FoE requested data going back to 2022. Other than the 2023 incident at Lake Mulwala, PFAS was also detected in bore water at Wangaratta in May 2023.
In terms of drinking water, only three PFAS chemicals have been granted guideline levels in Australia. These chemicals are PFOS, PFHxS and PFOA. The current guideline for PFOS+PFHxS is 70ng/L and PFOA at 560ng/L. New guideline levels proposed to take affect in 2025 are for PFOS 4ng/L, PFHxS 30ng/L, PFOA 200ng/L and PFBS 1000ng/L.
Pesticides
Cumulative pesticide detections (µg/L) across Northern Victorian drinking water supplies 2017-2024. The most serious pesticides incidents occurred at Euroa and Dookie in January 2020, where the notorious herbicide Atrazine was detected at 10µg/L, the highest levels recorded in a domestic water supply in Victoria. These levels are 50% of the Australian Atrazine guideline, but 3.3 times, the US drinking water guideline. The 20µg/L listed occurred in the Goulburn River near Alexandra in August 2018. This is 2% of the Australian drinking water guideline.
The FoI request to Goulburn Valley Water and North East Water requested any pesticide detections from 2017 and Coliban Water going back to 2020, when Coliban Water broadened their pesticide test regimes. For Goulburn Valley Water 240 detections were listed, however of these, two were for Atrazine (detected at Dookie and Euroa), one for Glyphosate (Alexandra) and another for MCPA (Cobram). The rest of the detections were for Chloropicrin and Dalapon (2,2-DPA). Both of these substances can also be created when chlorine used as a disinfectant reacts with organic molecules in the treated water. Because of the extent of the detections, chlorine disinfection appears to be the largest source of 'pesticide' pollution in Goulburn Valley Water's water supplies. The highest levels of Chloropicrin were detected at Strathbogie in September 2019 where levels as high as 100µg/L parts per billion were detected (probably an Australian record). The highest levels of Dalapon were detected at Colbinabbin (16 parts per billion) in October 2019. This level was 3.2% of the Australian drinking water guideline. There is no guideline level for Chloropicrin in Australian drinking water.
Detections for Chloropicrin and Dalapon stopped in June 2020 and thankfully no pesticides have been detected in Goulburn Valley Water's supply network since that date.
For North East Water there were 439 pesticide detections between 2017 and 2024. It appears that North East Water test for pesticides at some locations on a monthly basis. The average level of pesticide detected was 0.038µg/L. In terms of health concerns the highest detection was at Wahgunyah on the Murray River where Trichlorfon was detected at 0.43µg/L or at approximately 6% of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. The most frequently detected pesticide in the North East was 2,4-D detected 109 times, MCPA detected 92 times, Triclopyr detected 62 times, Atrazine detected 46 times and Hexazinone detected 40 times.
For North East Victoria it would appear that the most risky water supply in terms of pesticides, was Freeburgh Storage which supplies drinking water for the town of Bright. There were 60 pesticide detections at Freeburgh between 2018 and 2024. 41 of these detections were for 2,4-D. 2,4-D was detected consecutively for 15 months between 2020-21. 2,4-D has a drinking water guideline of 30µg/L.
Freeburgh Storage, marked with pink pin, receives water from the Ovens River. It was established several years ago as an alternative to water being supplied closer to Bright where water could have been impacted by pine plantations. 4.56µg/L refers to cumulative detections of all pesticides over a seven year period. Other pesticides detected at Freeburgh included 2,6-D, Atrazine, Benomyl (8 times), MCPA, Picloram, Tebuthiuron and Triclopyr.
Coliban Water started more frequent pesticide testing only in May 2020. Since that time Coliban Water had 126 pesticide detections in 17 of their water supplies. The most frequently detected pesticides were Atrazine 44 detections, Simazine 22 detections, Triclopyr 18, Metolachlor 15 and Diuron 6 detections. The average level of pesticide detected was 0.033µg/L. Coliban Water test for pesticides twice a year in May and November only. The highest level of Atrazine detected occurred at Cohuna in November 2024 at 0.23µg/L or 1.15% of the Australian drinking water guideline. Two communities stand out in terms of pesticide risk. These are Laanecoorie and Boort, where both communities had frequent detections of Atrazine and Simazine. In terms of ecological guidelines the biggest problem appears to be with the herbicide Metolachlor. The highest levels of Metolachlor were detected at Cohuna in November 2024 at 16 times the 99% default trigger level. Metolachlor breached ecological guidelines at Boort (4 times), Laanecoorie (3 times) and twice at Cohuna, Echuca, Gunbower and Leitchville.
Our PFAS and Pesticide work is running on empty . Any donations are greatly appreciated.
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