But Shoalhaven Water director Carmel Krogh said the discovery does not indicate a risk, especially to the Shoalhaven’s water supply.

Mrs Krogh said low levels of the chemicals were discovered in raw sewage during Shoalhaven Water testing.

“The levels discovered were well below the drinking water standard,” she said.

In May, the Environment Protection Agency [EPA] named HMAS Albatross as one of the sources of increased levels of the chemicals in fish caught in the Shoalhaven River.

Following that revelation, which showed the chemicals could travel long distances, to get from the Nowra Hill base to the river, Fairfax Media asked whether any testing had been undertaken around the Shoalhaven water supply areas and in particular Bamarang Dam on Yalwal Road, which is used as an off stream storage dam, supplied from the Shoalhaven River at Burrier.

“We consulted with EPA, which is the lead agency on this investigation, and from their perspective they hadn’t flagged the area around Bamarang as an issue, so from our perspective it wasn’t a high risk area,” Mrs Krogh said.