In a major reversal, the NSW government will now test most of the state's drinking water for cancer-causing "forever chemicals." Still despite not knowing the outcome of those investigations, the government maintains water for Sydney and the Blue Mountains is safe to drink. "To be clear, drinking water for Sydney and the Blue Mountains remains safe to drink," a government spokesperson told the Hawkesbury Post today.

This shift to widespread testing follows a Sydney Morning Herald investigation, which uncovered PFAS levels exceeding safety guidelines by more than 50 times in a pristine Blue Mountains dam.

In May, Sydney Water assured the SMH that "there are no known PFAS hotspots in our drinking water catchments." The SMH investigation revealed that NSW Water had largely relied on desktop research to assess contamination risks.

Before the government’s announcement, the Hawkesbury Post had already published the first in a series of articles addressing PFAS contamination in the Hawkesbury region. You can read that article on The Hawkesbury Post here; https://hawkesburyapp.com.au/hawkesbury-post-news/news/page-1/66848cbed6cd61016e45e1c6