Action demanded over toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in UK water supplies
Water companies have been ordered to take action to combat potentially harmful levels of “forever chemicals” in untreated drinking water supplies serving more than six million people.
A total of 23 enforcement notices have been issued in the last four years by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), which monitors water supplies in England and Wales, regarding levels of persistent chemicals that “may pose a potential hazard to human health”.
Since 2021, water companies are required to monitor 47 of the most concerning chemicals found in both household supplies and important water sources such as groundwater sources and reservoirs; This reflects increasing global concern about the risks associated with these chemicals.
More than 1.7 million tests have been carried out on the water network in the last four years. In at least 9,432 of those tests, the chemicals were found to be at levels high enough for DWI to warn that it could pose a potential danger to human health. joint analysis By the BBC and journalist campaign group Watershed Investigations.
According to the analysis, there are 23 sanctions and these sanctions are applied to seven water companies. These are: Affinity Water, Anglian Water, South West Water, Wessex Water, United Utilities, Severn Trent Water and South Staffordshire Water.
Forever Chemicals is a term loosely applied to a class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS.
These chemicals, numbering around 6,000, are used in the production of lubricating, stain-resistant and waterproofing agents and can be found in plastics, cookware, food packaging, clothing, cosmetics, medical devices, electronics and firefighting foams.
Since their introduction in the mid-20th century, a wealth of evidence has accumulated revealing how severely PFAS exposure can harm human health. It has been linked to reproductive and developmental problems, liver and kidney problems, immune system effects, cancers, low infant birth weight, and thyroid hormone disruption.
When “raw water supplies” (reservoirs and groundwater from which water companies supply untreated water) breach levels deemed safe (which in the UK is 0.01ug/L (micrograms per litre)), the DWI then issues enforcement notices to that water company requiring action to be taken to ensure the water is safe.
In practice, this means water companies must step up testing, upgrade or adjust PFAS treatments, or in some cases shut down a supply entirely.
It can take years for a sanction to be lifted, and months of monitoring are required before restrictions are lifted.
A DWI spokesperson said: Independent The UK’s drinking water is safe and consumers need not worry.
They said: “The inspectorate operates one of the most comprehensive PFAS monitoring programs in the world and is a world leader in both PFAS research and guideline development, ensuring consumers have full confidence in the safety of their drinking water.”
They added: “When trace levels of PFAS are detected, we want water companies to quickly investigate and put treatment plans in place.”
In the US, Joe Biden’s government has adopted strict, legally enforceable limits for PFAS in drinking water. In the UK, DWI guidelines are not legally binding and the limits are 2.5 times higher than those in the US.
The Royal Society Chemistry said that although the guidelines adopted in 2021 “brought us in line and actually exceeded the stringency of the EU standard, we would still like to see any individual PFAS limits reduced further.”
Stephanie Metzger, policy advisor to the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: IndependentHe said this would provide “an even stronger level of protection” and that these limits should be made legally binding “to truly secure protections and ensure compliance.”
He added: “PFAS levels in our water system are indicative of a wider problem of chemical pollution in the environment. The government needs to ensure it is monitoring pollution in the environment and identifying and holding those responsible to account.”
There are currently no environmental permit limits for PFAS emissions from industrial facilities, and he warned this poses a risk of more PFAS entering the environment and water system. Moreover, the public is campaigning for a tax on companies that produce these chemicals, so that the burden does not fall on water companies, which have to remove or reduce PFAS at significant cost.
Water UK, an industry body working on behalf of water companies, said the production of persistent chemicals should be banned, with clean-up costs covered by the companies that produce them.
A spokesperson told Independent: “PFAS pollution is a major global problem. We want PFAS to be banned and a national plan to be developed to remove it from the environment, paid for by manufacturers.
“No matter where you are in the country, when you turn on your tap you enjoy the best drinking water in the world. All water companies must meet stringent government standards and testing, including for PFAS. As a result, we can have full confidence in the quality of our tap water whenever and wherever we use it.”
