00:00They're in our clothes, cooking products and make-up.
00:06PFAS chemicals have even made it into drinking water.
00:11Now health authorities are trying to limit that.
00:14Our goal is to produce the highest quality evidence-based guidelines that will enable
00:21the states and the water suppliers to supply safe, clean water.
00:26A growing body of research is linking long-term PFAS exposure to cancer and thyroid issues.
00:33Every day of your life, two litres of water per day.
00:38The proposed limits follow a crackdown in the US.
00:42Under the guidelines, the safe levels of four PFAS chemicals would be slashed, but PFOA,
00:47recently declared carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation, would still be 50 times
00:52higher than America's limit.
00:55The forever chemicals have been used across the country, including in firefighting foam.
01:00But most drinking water has never been tested for PFAS, so the true extent of the problem
01:05remains unknown.
01:07However, recent samples taken in Sydney detected some of the chemicals at several water filtration plants.
01:14Drinking water remains safe if it complies with the current guideline.
01:19Authorities say the draft guidelines could mean one supply in the Blue Mountains would
01:23not be compliant, and there would likely be more.
01:26I think there will be lots of communities that are out of compliance with that and we
01:32will need to put in solutions.
01:34Technology to remove the chemicals is costly.
01:38Customer bills would increase to reflect the additional costs.
01:43There are legal options available to us.
01:44We do want to make sure that the cost to the community of pollution is borne by the polluter.
01:50The proposal is open for feedback and will be finalised by April next year.
01:55The onus then falls on state and territory governments to enforce any new standards.
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