skip to navigation skip to content skip to footer
Department of Defence, Australian Government

PFAS Investigation &
Management Program

Army Aviation Centre Oakey

PFAS Environmental Investigation



Other Management Activities

Visit the Management Activities page to see our other initiatives.

Oakey Management Activities

Workers performing Oakey town water connections
Defence is undertaking a range of precautionary management activities in Oakey. The aim of these activities is to remove PFAS from the environment and limit PFAS migration pathways.

Water Assistance

Defence is providing alternative sources of drinking water, as an interim and precautionary measure, to eligible residents located within the Oakey management area. For further information read the Drinking Water advice on the support page.

As part of a long-term and precautionary measure for the supply of drinking water, Defence funded Toowoomba Regional Council to provide access to the reticulated water supply system to residents who live within the Oakey Management Area.

For further information, read the Toowoomba Regional Council advice on the support page or download the factsheet .

Water Treatment Plant

Army Aviation Centre Oakey Groundwater Treatment

PFAS Water Treatment Plant Process
Fire Training Area WTP | Image courtesy of OPEC

Defence continues to treat PFAS-impacted groundwater at the Army Aviation Centre Oakey.

In 2017, Defence commissioned a groundwater treatment facility near the Former Fire Station. The plant was operated by ECT2, and used an ion-exchange resin technology to remove PFAS from water.

In 2019, Defence commissioned an additional groundwater treatment plant near the current Fire Training Facility. The plant is operated by EPOC Enviro (formerly OPEC Systems), and uses a foam fractionation technology in which PFAS molecules are separated from a liquid solution through columns of rising bubbles.

Former Fire Station Water Treatment Plant
Decommissioned Fire Station Water Treatment Plant
The bubbles form a froth or layer at the top of the column, which is then harvested from the solution and concentrated for destruction. More information about the treatment technology is available on the OPEC Enviro website.

In March 2022, Defence de-commissioned the groundwater treatment plant at the Former Fire Station. Concurrently, the capacity of the EPOC Enviro plant at the current Fire Training Area was expanded to enable it to treat higher volumes of PFAS-impacted water. The expanded plant can now treat more PFAS-impacted groundwater than was previously being treated by both plants.

2023 Water Sampling Results

The Water Sampling Summaries track the PFAS concentrations against the limits defined by the relevant adopted drinking water screening criteria. They include results for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and the sum of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS).

The water quality data is drawn from water samples on both untreated and treated water. The summaries of water sampling results can be downloaded below.

2022 Water Sampling Results

The Water Sampling Summaries track the PFAS concentrations against the limits defined by the relevant adopted drinking water screening criteria. They include results for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and the sum of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS).

The water quality data is drawn from water samples on both untreated and treated water. The summaries of water sampling results can be downloaded below.

2021 Water Sampling Results

The Water Sampling Summaries track the PFAS concentrations against the limits defined by the relevant adopted drinking water screening criteria. They include results for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and the sum of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS).

The water quality data is drawn from water samples on both untreated and treated water. The summaries of water sampling results can be downloaded below.

2020 Water Sampling Results

The Water Sampling Summaries track the PFAS concentrations against the limits defined by the relevant adopted drinking water screening criteria. They include results for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and the sum of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS).

The water quality data is drawn from water samples on both untreated and treated water. The summaries of water sampling results can be downloaded below.

2019 Water Sampling Results

The Water Sampling Summaries track the PFAS concentrations against the limits defined by the relevant adopted drinking water screening criteria. They include results for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and the sum of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS).

The water quality data is drawn from water samples on both untreated and treated water. The summaries of water sampling results can be downloaded below.

Further Information

Like the website?

We welcome you to take our 20 second survey to help us improve the site.

Feedback

Contacts

If you have any questions about the investigation or management activities Defence is undertaking, please contact us using the phone number or email address below.

 1800 136 129

 defence.oakey@aecom.com

For contact details relating to a different site, please refer to the contacts page.

Back to top