Australian Drinking Water Guidelines - Public Consultation on Draft Guidance for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Overview

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is inviting stakeholder feedback on draft guidance on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as part of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (the Guidelines).

NHMRC has drafted an update of the PFAS Fact Sheet within the Guidelines that includes revised and newly established health-based guideline values. The draft PFAS fact sheet is supported by a NHMRC Statement on PFAS in drinking water, which provides a summary of the findings that informed the update.  

The PFAS reviewed as part of this update include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA); perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS); perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS); perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its ammonium salt (GenX chemicals). 

Further information on the NHMRC Review of PFAS in Australian drinking water is available on the NHMRC website.
 

What are the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines?

The Guidelines are part of the National Water Quality Management Strategy and are designed to provide a framework for safe, good quality drinking water, how it can be achieved and how it can be assured.

Since the Guidelines were published in 2011, NHMRC maintains the Guidelines through a rolling review process to ensure they represent the latest scientific evidence on good quality drinking water. Updates to specific sections, including the chemical fact sheets, are prioritised based on expert advice and availability of new or emerging scientific evidence.

What is changing?

Based on a review of the available evidence, NHMRC is proposing updates to the health-based drinking water guidelines for several PFAS as noted below. 

How can I make a submission?

Submissions should be made via the online form below.

The form invites responses to specific questions on the draft PFAS Fact Sheet and draft NHMRC Statement on PFAS in drinking water. Please note the form does not allow for attachments to be uploaded.

You do not have to provide comments on all questions. Please focus on the question/s of most interest to you and/or your organisation.

Where possible, please refer to the relevant page number of the relevant document when providing comments.

The closing date for submissions is 22 November 2024.

Why your views matter

The information provided during this consultation will help us strengthen the management framework for drinking water quality across Australia. Your feedback will assist us in making this guidance as user friendly and relevant as possible.

At the end of the consultation period, all submissions will be considered by the Water Quality Advisory Committee in consultation with the NHMRC.

It is expected that the guidance material will be published as part of the Guidelines in 2025.

Consultation material

The draft PFAS Fact Sheet, NHMRC Statement, Administrative Report and the supporting evidence review (Research Protocol, Evidence Evaluation Report, Technical Report and Addendum to the Evidence Review) are all available to download below.

You may choose to open any document or link in a new tab by right clicking and selecting "Open link in new tab".

Disclaimer: NHMRC aims to follow and meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2 AA). Despite our best efforts to ensure accessibility of NHMRC's website, we publish documents and publications received from third parties. These third party documents may not meet the WCAG 2.2 AA and there may be some limitations. 

If you have difficulty accessing our content, contact us by  emailing: webrequest@nhmrc.gov.au. Please provide a summary and description of the location of the web page or content in question so we can send an alternate format of the content where possible.

What happens next

The public consultation on draft guidance for PFAS in Australian drinking water is now closed.

If you have any questions related to the public consultation, please contact NHMRC by emailing water@nhmrc.gov.au.

Submissions from public consultation (pending consent to publish from the respondents) will be made public once the revised PFAS fact sheet is published in the Guidelines, which is currently anticipated for April 2025.