Australia's New PFAS Tap Water Limits: Ten Months On
On 25 June 2025, the NHMRC released the most significant update to PFAS limits in Australian drinking water in almost a decade. Ten months on, utilities are still working through what the tighter values mean for their monitoring and reporting.
What changed in June 2025
The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines now include much lower health-based guideline values for four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances:
| PFAS compound | Old ADWG value | New ADWG value (June 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| PFOS | 70 ng/L | 8 ng/L |
| PFOA | 560 ng/L | 200 ng/L |
| PFHxS | not set | 30 ng/L |
| PFBS | not set | 1,000 ng/L |
The PFOS limit dropped nearly nine-fold. PFOA fell by more than half. Two compounds — PFHxS and PFBS — got their first national guideline values at all.
NHMRC says the revision reflects updated health evidence, particularly around lifetime exposure. Its Water Quality Advisory Committee finalised the PFOS value at 8 ng/L after initially proposing 4 ng/L at public consultation; the final number came from selecting what the committee called a more robust benchmark dose model after stakeholder comments.
Why the limits moved
PFAS, sometimes called “forever chemicals,” are a family of synthetic substances that do not break down in the environment and can accumulate in the body over years. NHMRC’s review identified the most critical health endpoints as potential bone marrow effects for PFOS, potential carcinogenicity for PFOA, and potential thyroid effects for PFHxS and PFBS, based on animal studies.
The new values are designed to keep lifetime exposure well below any level of concern. They are not thresholds where harm suddenly begins.
What it means for your tap water
For most Australians, not much changes day to day. NHMRC and the Water Services Association of Australia have both confirmed that the majority of public water supplies already test below the new values. The update is about tightening the benchmark, not revealing a hidden problem.
The areas with most to watch are those already known to have PFAS contamination, typically near former defence firefighting training sites. Williamtown in NSW, Oakey in Queensland, and Katherine in the Northern Territory remain the most prominent examples. Remediation programs at these sites have been running for years and continue under tighter scrutiny.
Implementation timelines are now up to state and territory regulators. Reporting schedules, verification sampling frequency, and how often utilities publish PFAS results will vary by jurisdiction, so expect some inconsistency across 2026 annual reports.
What WaterScore has changed
Each suburb’s PFAS readings now benchmark against the June 2025 values rather than the old 2018 numbers. Where utilities report PFAS testing — and coverage is still patchy — we show the most recent measured value alongside the new guideline. A suburb page with no PFAS row means we hold no published result for that supply, not that the water is free of PFAS.
If you want the longer story on what PFAS are, how they get into water, and which filters actually remove them, our explainer on PFAS in Australian water walks through the history, the known contamination sites, and the filtration evidence.
What you can do
- Search for your suburb on the WaterScore homepage and check whether PFAS testing data is available.
- If you live near a known contamination site, contact your utility directly for the latest verification sampling results.
- If you want to further reduce PFAS at the tap, reverse osmosis is the most effective household option. Our guide to the best water filters for Australian tap water covers what to look for.
The full ADWG, including the updated PFAS chapter, is published on the NHMRC website.