The council says regular monitoring of the aquifer hasn’t come back with any PFAS positive samples.
Water reports show the council three years ago identified a “very high potential risk” from long lasting PFAS chemicals.
The focus was Taradale fire station, because fire brigades until recently used foams with Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in them. Taradale is home to five of the city’s seven groundwater bores.
The concern sparked the first tests at two bores (named T2 and C1) in mid-2020, then every three months since 2021. “We have never detected PFAS in any groundwater samples,” the council told RNZ on Friday.
“But our regular monitoring of the aquifer hasn’t come back with any PFAS positive samples.”
Napier fire station in the central city was investigated for contamination, and cleared, but Taradale was not looked at, when Fire and Emergency looked at, and cleared, eight stations after the PFAS contamination scare broke in New Zealand in late 2017.
The T2 bore extracts about 58,000 cubic metres of water a week for the city.
Credit: radionz.co.nz
