Third-generation Melbourne market gardener David Wallace is one of dozens of landholders who have been told to stop using water from the Maribyrnong River after toxic chemicals from firefighting foam were detected in runoff from Melbourne Airport.
Now he has been told to stop, after an EPA alert was issued on September 20, following tests for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl chemicals – known as PFAS – at Melbourne Airport and in nearby waterways.
The Department of Health maintains there is no consistent evidence the toxins cause “important” health effects, in contrast to the US EPA, which has concluded they are a human health hazard that – at high-enough levels – can cause immune dysfunction, hormonal interference and certain types of cancer.
Thirty-nine landholders with Melbourne Water diversion licences have been advised to stop using water from the Maribyrnong River as a precautionary measure until further testing could be done.
Testing on water, soil, plants and aquatic life by government authorities will assess any risk to the public posed by chemicals in the waterways.
Mr Wallace has reduced the amout of Maribyrnong water he used in recent years and was reluctant to grow anything in soil outside his greenhouses.
Diversion customers were notified on September 7 that PFAS had been found in soil and water at the airport, a spokesman said, and then again on September 17, after receiving further information from the airport and preliminary advice from the EPA.
Melbourne Airport said it was "really pleased" that the EPA and Melbourne Water were investigating the presence of PFAS in nearby waterways.
Last year the airport tested surface water and groundwater, as well as more than 800 soil samples, for PFAS, a spokesman said.
"These investigations found that PFAS contamination is concentrated in a few locations associated with the historical use of PFAS-containing fire-fighting foams.