The Defence Department is returning to Katherine this week to update residents on PFAS contamination of their town.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There will be a meeting at GYRAC on Wednesday and a shopfront opened at the shopping centre on Wednesday and Thursday.
The centrepiece of the first visit since late last year is the PFAS Area Management Plan, which details the roadmap ahead for the town.
"The aim of the PFAS Area Management Plan is to provide options to manage the risks of PFAS exposure on and near the Base (Tindal) and outline a plan for ongoing monitoring," Defence has said in the past.
Previous investigations have shown PFAS contamination continues to leave the base via groundwater flows, directly under Katherine to empty into the river.
Defence is in the process of installing the second of two groundwater interception plants to try and stop the PFAS entering the Tindall aquifer, critical to Katherine's drinking water supplies.
No expert has been willing to estimate how long this process will need to continue to stop leaks from the base into the aquifer.
There has been little information of the large amounts of contaminated soil on the base, and what Defence plans to do with it.
Defence has agreed to bankroll a new water treatment plant for Katherine, a scale model was unveiled at the weekend's Katherine Show, which will remove PFAS from all of the town's drinking water.
Katherine is on its third year of water restrictions waiting for the plant to be operating, hopefully in the first half of next year.
Another outstanding matter is the blood testing of hundreds of residents, believed to be one of the biggest community health screens of its type in Australian history.
Many individual results have been alarming, well above recommended limits, but whether the results are widespread is waiting on a report from the Australian National University, not expected until next year.
Defence says its "Community Walk-in Session" at GYRAC on Wednesday from 5pm will include a presentation from 5pm.
More reading:
Defence lead spokesman Steve Grzeskowiak is again expected to lead the session.
The community shopfront will be opened for two days "to provide the local community with an update on the detailed environmental investigation and management of per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances at RAAF Base Tindal and nearby areas".
"Members of the investigation team as well as representatives from Defence and other government agencies will be available to discuss the PFAS Management Area Plan and the Ongoing Monitoring Plan
"The Investigation team will also provide a summary of the next steps and answer any community questions."
Another big change since Defence last updated Katherine is the about turn done by Katherine Town Council to join the class action mounted by residents to pursue damages over lost property values.
Council had for years refused to countenance legal action, repeatedly saying Katherine was being well supported by Defence.
Council said it relied on its membership of the Katherine PFAS Community Consultation Group to lobby Defence officials.
But as Katherine Times revealed earlier this year that group, formed within the Chief Minister's office, has rarely met and has never fulfilled its intended purpose of communicating information to residents.
"The KPCCG will help with the timely sharing of the latest information relating to PFAS and receiving community specific information first hand from community representatives," the group's operating instructions read.
Mayor Fay Miller and CEO Rob Jennings were both apologies at the most recent listed meeting of the group in April which only seven people attended.
The other big change since Defence last updated residents is the moves being made in the United States to dramatically lower recommended safe limits for PFAS.
Australia is following the former national advice from the US of some years ago but individual US states have now imposed much lower limits, a move expected to flow across the world, including Australia.
So the water which is today considered safe for drinking or recreational use may not be for much longer.
While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox each Friday at 6am from the Katherine Times. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here.