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“They will be in this room in numerous forms.”<\/p>\n
PFAS, or Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances, are notorious for their stability and tendency to accumulate in the environment and living organisms.<\/p>\n
Despite some bans, their presence in various consumer products and industrial applications remains a significant issue.<\/p>\n
Clean Ocean Foundation chief executive John Gemmill said tackling PFAS was one of the many benefits of well-implemented water recycling strategies.<\/p>\n
“There is strong evidence that done well, water recycling that produces purified recycled water, has the potential to profoundly reduce ocean pollution and economically augment water supplies,” he said.<\/p>\n
The letter calls for the appointment of an ambassador for water recycling to champion and promote purified recycled water within Australia.<\/p>\n It also calls for the federal EPA to adopt emission targets for all outfalls in line with those adopted by the European Union by 2035 and implementing a cap on all pollutant discharges for existing outfalls and prohibiting any new ocean or estuarine outfalls which is one of the main ways PFAS chemicals enter the ocean.<\/p>\n Ian Cousins, Professor at the Department of Environmental Science at Stockholm University highlighted the danger posed by PFAS in sea foam.<\/p>\n “This foam is just a lot of bubbles so you will get enrichment on the bubble film,” Cousins said.<\/p>\n He expressed concern for the effect of the high PFAS levels on surfers and near-shore grazing animals.<\/p>\n “You should avoid the contaminated sea foams,” he said.<\/p>\n “I wouldn’t even want to touch them \u2013 they are extremely contaminated. This is another lesson we have to learn about these persistent synthetic chemicals: we can find surprising processes later that can cause us enormous problems because these chemicals don’t go away.”<\/p>\n The ongoing discussions in the EU about restricting all PFAS as a group highlight the need for a global approach to this persistent issue.<\/p>\n “This is great, but it’s only happening in Europe. It should be expanded globally,” Cousins said.<\/p>\n Mr Gemmill said publicly transparent research was needed to determine where PFAS chemicals were being discharged.<\/p>\n “We need to know where these chemicals are occurring along the coastline of the Bellarine, Surf Coast and right around Australia.”<\/p>\n The list of signatories to the Clean Ocean Foundation letter includes notable figures such as former chief health officer of Victoria, Dr. Michael Ackland; CEO of Surfing Australia, Chris Mater; three-time Olympic gold medalist (Rowing) Drew Ginn; environmentalist Bob Brown; entrepreneur David Prior; CEO of Circular Australia, Lisa McLean; AWA Professional of the Year 2022, Adjunct Professor Ian Law; and Professor Stuart Khan from the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MORE than 50 respected Australian academics and leaders have called on environment minister Tanya Plibersek to take a bold leadership stance on water recycling. The urgent call follows growing concerns over a new study that reveals PFAS and other toxic “forever chemicals” are contaminating sea foam. Researchers from Stockholm University presented evidence that challenged previous […]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/michael-olsen-dQQORZ_84428.jpg\")
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