Renewed calls are being made to stop the use of so-called ‘forever chemicals’ which can persist in the environment for up to 1,000 years.
This week alone has seen water companies instructed to reduce the level of PFAS in drinking water supplies, in a bid to protect the population.
According to a BBC report, the Drinking Water Inspectorate has issued 23 enforcement notices due to the amount of forever chemicals in public supplies. Affinity Water, Anglian Water, South West Water, Wessex Water, United Utilities, Severn Trent Water and South Staffordshire Water have all received instructions from the authority.
Although Water UK had reiterated its confidence in the safety of British water for human consumption, concerns are high that over time accumulation could pose a risk to public health. From around 1.7million forever chemical tests on drinking water, at least 9,430 returned results which could endanger lives.
‘PFAS chemicals can persist for 1,000 years in the environment and their presence within drinking water is a major cause for concern. We need to ban all but their most essential uses to protect both human and environmental health and to reduce the costs of both water and wastewater treatment,’ said Dr Rob Collins, Directory of Policy and Science at The Rivers Trust.
‘We find many other chemicals in our aquatic environments beyond PFAS, and we urgently need to adopt a more strategic approach to address them, as we know that inaction costs us environmentally and economically,’ he continued. ‘The government must act to phase out harmful chemicals except for the most essential uses, enforce the use of less harmful substitutes, and adopt the precautionary principle where evidence is incomplete.’
Image: Carl Tronders / Unsplash
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