NZDF to test site of 1996 Skyhawk Crash
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) will test an area where a Royal New Zealand Air Force Skyhawk crashed in 1996 to help the investigation of PFAS in the Bulls water supply.
Specialists contracted by NZDF will test water in an area surrounding the site.
Earlier this year, at the request of the local councils, NZDF tested the town water supplies of Sanson and Bulls for PFAS compounds. While the results for Sanson were below the laboratory limit of detection, low levels of PFAS were detected in the Bulls water supply. The levels detected were well below the Ministry of Health’s interim guidance levels for drinking water.
NZDF agreed to help Rangitikei District Council and Horizons Regional Council understand where the PFAS might have come from. Part of that investigation involves testing near the site of the 1996 Skyhawk crash north of Bulls, to determine whether firefighting foam used at the site could plausibly be a source of the PFAS in the Bulls water supply.
Testing will be carried out on groundwater from existing wells adjacent to the site.
Information gained from the testing will also be valuable for the nationwide PFAS programme being led by the Ministry for Environment (MfE). This programme is seeking to understand if a one-off event, like the foam application at the site of the Skyhawk impact, could be influencing groundwater quality with regard to PFAS two decades later.
The results from these tests will be provided to landowners, statutory regional authorities and the all-of-Government group involved in the PFAS response.
NZDF’s testing programme at its Ohakea and Woodbourne air bases is ongoing, with a fourth round of testing to be carried out in spring.
Background:
Recently, substances known as PFAS have come under investigation worldwide because it has become known that they persist in the environment and accumulate in humans and animals. PFAS stands for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. They are a group of chemicals that have been widely used since the 1950s in a variety of household and industrial products resistant to heat, stains, grease and water. They have also been a component of firefighting foams that are applied to liquid-fuel fires. Use of these foams had been standard practice in international aviation for many years.
The NZDF has been advised by its suppliers that they have not supplied any foam products containing PFOS or PFOA above trace levels to us since at least 2002.
