It follows Tuesday’s launch of a nation-wide coalition, advocating on behalf of the many PFAS-impacted communities across the country. 

The Murray Cod Hatcheries owner claims he lost everything because of the per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, that seeped into his ground water at Gumly across two decades. 

The highly persistent chemicals have been found in a number of fire-retardant products, including the firefighting foam used at a number of defence bases, including RAAF Base Wagga. 

It comes after Department of Defence testing last month revealed “very high” PFAS levels in all of the surface and ground water, used for aquaculture and agriculture, at Mr Semple‘s property.

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Some readings were found to be more than 350 times the acceptable safe drinking and agriculture standards.

The Wagga man may be one of the only residents impacted across the city, but he is not alone. 

Mr Semple said results of his own investigations could prove the pollutant had crippled his fish breeding, stunting the growth of the few that survived. 

He said he now hoped to share his findings with CAP – The Coalition Against PFAS, announced this week. 

“(CAP) is a good move,” Mr Semple said.

“It should have been a federal decision.” 

According to the website, residents in at least 90 contaminated areas across the country, will be linked with foundation members; a group of residents involved in class action lawsuits at the three main contamination sites at Williamtown in New South Wales, Katherine in the Northern Territory and Oakey in Queensland.

“We should have been treated a damn-sight better than we have been,” Mr Semple said.

“The government’s response has just been ‘deny, deny, deny’, while they catch up with the rest of the world.”

His words follow a NSW government decision to not ban PFAS products and a federal decision to ‘wait and see’ before prohibiting its use.

It came despite other countries and Australian states ridding themselves of items and substances known to contain the chemical.

Mr Semple said a lack of leadership and ignorance were still issues, with residents still unaware the products they were using contained the possible carcinogenic. 

“There have been no warnings or information given,” he said. “People are still using fire, water and oil repellents with this stuff in it.”

While possible links between PFAS consumption and cancer have been argued, Mr Semple claimed no report said it was “harmless”. 

“I don’t know how much of that crap I’ve got in my system,” Mr Semple said.

“You can’t prove (cancer) causation in humans … but you can’t prove skin cancer causation or that smoking causes cancer either.”

He said he couldn’t say his health concerns were related to his consumption of the chemical – through duck eggs and drinking the contaminated water – but he could prove its affect on the thousands of fish he’d lost. 

“It will be good to see my report published in some manner,” Mr Semple said. 

“Hopefully it can help someone somehow.”

Mr Semple said there was still potential for the chemicals in the ground water to leech into the city’s water table and cause further damage. 

“Drawing down on the water has kept the contamination in this basin,” he said.

“As soon as I stop or it floods, it will start moving again.

“It’s difficult to say where you’ll see it pop up.”