Banned firefighting foam has been found at Port Taranaki and at Dunedin Airport.
PFOS firefighting foam has been banned for 13 years. Photo: 123RF
The Environmental Protection Authority said the airport found the foam after internal checks and the EPA was now monitoring its disposal.
The authority said it had also told the port to produce a plan to address firefighting foam stocks.
PFOS foam was banned 13 years ago but a year-long EPA investigation has already found it at a dozen sites nationwide.
The chemicals in the foam last thousands of years and have been linked to damage to human health. The US and Australia have multiple investigaitions and legal actions underway over foam contamination.
The airport and port companies have been asked for comment.
The EPA in New Zealand has not prosecuted anyone for holding or using banned foam.
"Affected parties have accepted their responsibilities and demonstrated a positive attitude to resolving their issues," it said in a statement today.
Groundwater and streams in Taranaki have been contaminated by major petrochemical operators Shell and Methanex using the foams.
Most contamination so far is linked to Defence Force bases. Defence has finished testing, and the onus now falls on regional councils to monitor any contamination or clean up after it.
The foam is exported because New Zealand has no facilities to destroy it.
Since April, 38 tonnes of foam in two shipments of PFOS and other types of aqueous film-forming foams containing PFAS chemicals has gone to France for incineration.
New Zealand and more than 180 countries have recently agreed to ban the production and use of a second type of fluorochemical, PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), as a persistent organic pollutant, or POP, under the Stockholm Convention.
PFOA occurs widely in firefighting foams or their breakdown products and is considered a possible carcinogen and linked to hormonal disruption.
"Although this listing does not take effect internationally until next year, it will have impacts on other older stocks of currently compliant PFAS foams," the EPA said.
The authority is amending the firefighting chemicals standards in New Zealand to account for this.
