It will be 173 days between drinks at the next meeting of the Katherine PFAS Community Consultation Group.
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This is the group which is supposed to regularly update the community on Katherine's ongoing PFAS nightmare.
As we write, we're not sure whether there is a group at all, its members are not known.
This group was established in 2017 within the Office of the Chief Minister in 2017, "to provide a mechanism for two-way communication with the community".
PFAS is a group of chemicals which were contained in fire fighting foams once used in training at Tindal RAAF Base which continues to leak in groundwater under Katherine to empty into the Katherine River.
The group was to comprise members of the community and various Territory departments, and the Department of Defence.
The group last met on April 4 this year.
Seven people met in January (not a quorum), and in November before that.
Much of their debate involved development of a new terms of reference after community members questioning its relevance.
After Katherine Times questioned the Chief Minister's office again this week about the group we were told several days later the next meeting is now scheduled for September 24.
An advertisement was placed in the Katherine Times in May asking for new members to join.
A government spokeswoman would not say whether the recruitment campaign had been successful or not.
"There is nothing in the Terms of Reference for the committee that clearly states whether this information can be provided to media or not."
We were instead referred to a listing of agendas and minutes which irregularly appear on the Katherine Town Council's website.
Several of the "community members" listed from earlier in the year on recent agendas are known to have left town.
There is no advice on recent recruits.
Residents who have questioned Katherine Town Council on PFAS issues in recent years have been repeatedly told council was satisfied with the response its was receiving from Defence through its membership of this group.
Council recently backflipped on its often repeated refusal to consider joining the class action by townsfolk against Defence, worried it might sour this relationship.
A recent member of the group, who asked not to be identified, claimed the group was "a smokescreen".
"It is just window dressing, it never meets, they just tell us what they want us to hear.
"It is just a ploy, a way to con people into thinking they are doing something."
The government spokeswoman said the group met informally on July 23 "with the PFAS Investigation Team who were in town for a community shopfront event".
The community member said it was at that time they were given a tour of the two water treatment plants now based at Tindal to clean PFAS from groundwater.
But no information has ever been released on that visit.
The Katherine Times has also been told informally from government to stop pressing for information on the issue of the group and what the Territory Government is doing for Katherine in regards to PFAS.
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"You are getting your treatment plant aren't you," we were told.
This is in reference to a new treatment plant designed to remove PFAS from all the town's drinking water supplies.
In the meantime Katherine is in its third year of water restrictions and on the brink of the worst of the dry months.
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