Drilling underneath Katherine has confirmed the town’s worst nightmare.
The leakage of worrying chemicals from the Tindal RAAF Base heads directly under the town to empty into the Katherine River.
The “red zone” or the chemical hotspot identified by Coffey Consultants, contracted by the Defence Department, is centred on the Tindal RAAF Base.
The results confirm the base has leaked PFAS from fire fighting foams once used in training there, and continues to leak.
The “plume” or direction of the contamination is directing towards and underneath the town of Katherine.
Defence said the graphic pictured to the right is a groundwater map which shows specific results from groundwater testing.
“This map does not represent all test results; however, it is representative of testing within each area and underwrites the plume modeling in the graphic.
“Further information, including detailed groundwater sampling results will be available in the final Interim Human Health Risk Assessment and Detailed Site Investigation reports.
“These reports are currently undergoing a quality assurance review and will be made publicly available in the coming weeks.”