Tasmanian Family Farm Contaminated by Airport Sewage and PFAS, Facing Regulatory Gaps

The future of Kate Tucker's family farm is as murky as its waterways, which are sullied with sewage from Tasmania's second-largest airport.

The 160-hectare property outside Launceston was named The Springs for its ample water supply, which at one point was its greatest resource.

But its creeks and dams now face a raft of contamination issues and cannot be used for stock or crops.

For the first time in five generations, the farm is at a standstill.

"It's incredibly stressful," Ms Tucker said.

Among her key concerns is a nearby sewage treatment plant, which receives all the sewage from the Launceston Airport, before discharging it into a creek on the property.

The plant has been processing sewage at more than three times its design capacity, documents show.

Ms Tucker said a dam and some waterways also tested positive for harmful PFAS chemicals.

Yet she has struggled to persuade authorities to act, which she blames on poor environmental regulation, potentially impacting dozens of sewage treatment plants across the state.

Her father, David Hughes, said it had been tough to watch his daughter come up against so many barriers trying secure their land a future.

Sewage plant inundated

Ms Tucker said that in 1982, her family converted some of their property into Launceston's industrial TRANSLink precinct and gave land to the local council to build the Western Junction Sewage Treatment Plant in the process.

The lagoon-based plant, which is now owned by TasWater and receives all sewage from the precinct, nearby households and the Launceston Airport, was designed to receive fewer than 100 kilolitres of sewage a day.

But the region has grown considerably in the past 40 years, with more than 1.5 million passengers transiting through the airport last financial year.

Documents from TasWater show the airport received an average of 309kL of sewage a day in 2023-2024.

By 2024-2025, it was receiving an average of 329kL a day.

The treated waste then flows into a creek on the property and into the North Esk River.

Ms Tucker worries the high flow reduces the waste's settlement period, and therefore the treatment quality.

TasWater's chief scientist Graham Hawke said the plant's treatment did not involve screening or grit removal, but "floating wetlands" on the ponds helped remove pollutants and "sunlight provides UV treatment".

"It's a bit like a natural compost heap, but underwater," Mr Hawke said.

While he conceded the plant was overloaded, he said TasWater's priority was to invest in larger treatment plants, while using innovation to improve smaller ones.

Mr Hawke said TasWater had considered installing aerators, which had improved effluent quality at other sites.

He also said the plant was due to be de-sludged, which would involve removing the solid waste from ponds, later this year.

But he said the facility was not due to be decommissioned for about a decade.

TasWater documents indicated sewage would then be redirected to the Evandale Sewage Treatment Plant.

Facility not regulated by EPA

The Western Junction Sewage Treatment Plant is among 33 across Tasmania classified as level one, as they are designed to treat fewer than 100kL of sewage a day.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) does not regulate these facilities, even if, like Western Junction, they receive far more than that.

Regulation instead falls to local councils.

The Northern Midlands Council has never issued the Western Junction Sewage Treatment Plant an environmental protection notice.

Environment Tasmania's freshwater campaigner Lucy Tremain said such notices were used to set limits around things like E.coli, phosphorus and nitrogen discharges, as well as monitoring frequency and reporting requirements.

She said without one, the regulations were "oblique".

"These environmental protection notices, they're a critical tool for holding polluters to account," she said.

Northern Midlands Mayor Mary Knowles said the council recently engaged an environmental consultant and may issue Western Junction with a notice.

But she said the level of sewage the plant was treating was now beyond the council's expertise and resources.

Ms Tucker said that in reality, the plant was "not getting any environmental regulation whatsoever".

"There's no pressure on TasWater to really do anything dramatic with it," she said.

Mr Hawke said TasWater had monitored the plant monthly since 2014.

Ms Tucker said she had only received reports from 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.

Data from TasWater's 2024-2025 Environmental Report show many of its discharges would have been deemed "non-complaint", if it were regulated by the EPA.

It also indicated almost half of the state's level one sewage treatment plants were causing issues, with Western Junction among four deemed "high risk" while another 11 were "medium risk".

Ms Tucker and Ms Tremain believe stricter regulations are needed.

Tasmania's Water Minister Gavin Pearce declined to comment.

PFAS contamination

Ms Tucker's property is also contaminated with PFAS — chemicals, often found in firefighting foam, that are linked to human health issues.

Ms Tucker said the chemicals had been found in the farm's water, which meant it could not be used on the family's quarry — which is now not operating — or for farming.

She said she and her family were first alerted to the issue in 2022 by Air Services Australia, and believed the chemicals may have flowed onto their land from the Launceston Airport, which had been used for firefighter training.

Airservices Australia said it completed PFAS remediation measures at Launceston Airport last year, and was finalising a detailed investigation of the site.

But Ms Tucker said PFAS had also been detected at the sewage treatment plant.

Mr Hawke said TasWater was currently testing the sewer network to find potential PFAS sources.

Call for decommissioning

Ms Tucker said her first priority was to see the Western Junction Sewage Treatment Plant bumped up the priority list for decommissioning.

"And then we're just left with the PFAS issue, which we will have to work through," she said.

While some of the land is being used to agist stock, with water troughs filled via the TasWater mains connection, Ms Tucker said she hoped cleaning up the waterways would allow for more farming options in the future.

She said if nothing happened, her family would have to start objecting to future development.

"Which goes against every grain of our body," she said.