A NSW Riverina council will foot a bill of $40,000 for PFAS testing at its two sewage treatment plants.
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However, it is an expense that Wagga councillor Vanessa Keenan said should not fall on the council to make rather the government's defence department.
"The PFAS is directly related to the contamination related to the RAAF base," she said.
In the meantime, the council will test for levels of per-fluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances - commonly referred to as PFAS - that will be funded through its sewerage reserve.
Cr Keenan said this solution will be fine for now, but the council needs to maintain pressure on the federal government to reimburse costs associated with PFAS.
"We have had to do a lot of testing and move a lot of stockpile material that may have been contaminated ... there have been a lot of significant costs associated with PFAS and that is before we have come to any real solution to treating it," she said.
At Monday night's council meeting, general manager Peter Thompson said the council will ask the department of defence to cover the cost.