ENDS Report, an environmental magazine, and Watershed Investigations have released a new documentary on PFAS pollution of UK rivers and seas.

The documentary, titled ‘TOXIC’, uncovers findings from PFAS testing of UK waters. It uses key case studies and hears from volunteers across the UK to highlight the severity of the PFAS pollution crisis. Vice Chair of River Action UK, Feargal Sharkey, who appears in the documentary, says that PFAS pollution is “probably the greatest crisis about to befall public health” and that “we should all be hugely concerned”.

PFAS are a family of over 10,000 chemicals that are known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they will last for generations in the environment. They are used in a wide range of consumer products, such as food packaging, cosmetics, and clothing, as well as in industrial applications.

Due to their extreme persistence, levels of PFAS can progressively build up in the environment, and some can build up in the bodies of people and wildlife. The most studied PFAS, namely PFOS and PFOA, have been linked to developmental issues, immune system disruption, and other serious health conditions.

The River Mersey: A Toxic Legacy

The River Mersey is featured as a key case study in the documentary. The river is one of the largest in the UK and has a long history of pollution from nearby industrial activities. Hydrologist and pollution expert, Dr Patrick Bryne from Liverpool John Moores University took samples from the river to investigate how much PFAS was being transported from the river basin into the sea.

He compared his calculations to those taken at other sites across the world where similar studies had taken place. The amount of PFOA being transported was found to be the second highest in the world after the Tokyo basin. For PFOS, the Mersey was transporting the third highest amount globally, with only the Tokyo basin and Cape Fear in the US transporting higher levels. Both of these chemicals are globally banned, demonstrating the toxic legacy of PFAS and their ability to persist in the environment even after they have been phased out.

Dr Byrne also tested the effluent coming from the Bury wastewater treatment works. Effluent from the plant flows into the River Irwell, which leads into the River Mersey. He found that around half of the PFOS being transported by the Mersey was coming from wastewater effluents and commented “currently, PFAS compounds aren’t removed very efficiently in the treatment process”.

The Impacts of Industrial PFAS Pollution on the River Wyre

Watershed Investigations took samples from the outflow coming from an Asahi Glass Chemicals (AGC) plant, which manufactures PFAS on the banks of the protected River Wyre.

Laboratory testing found extremely high levels of the banned chemical PFOA in the samples. AGC commented that they phased this chemical out before the global ban and that any PFOA detected is a result of legacy pollution. However, AGC continues to produce another PFAS chemical called EEA-NH4. Although producing this chemical is legal, the Environment Agency has stated that the chemical is very persistent and toxic as it can be harmful to fertility and development.

Dr Bryne highlights that discharging effluent high in PFAS into rivers and marine environments is largely unregulated globally and states that he is concerned about the impact this may have on both ecological and human health.

Green Party peer, Natalie Bennet, also featured in the film, emphasises how this example, taken from the River Wyre, demonstrates that UK regulations are inadequate. She highlights that the problem has only been getting worse since Brexit because the UK has failed to follow suit when its EU neighbours have introduced new bans on chemicals and is falling behind. See our divergence table on the differences between UK and EU regulations on harmful substances here.

Urgent Call to Action

ENDS Report and Watershed Investigations presented their findings to the Environment Agency and the UK government.

In response, Defra stated “Since the 2000s, we have been taking action to monitor, ban, or highly restrict specific PFAS and are working across government to assess levels occurring in the environment, their sources, and potential risks to inform policy and regulatory approaches.

“We have already prohibited three key PFAS through our domestic legislation on Persistent Organic Pollutants and this year we will start work on a proposal to restrict the use of other PFAS in firefighting foams, as well as exploring further restrictions across a wide range of industrial and consumer uses.”

The standards currently in place in the UK are outdated and not protective enough, and the government’s response to the PFAS pollution crisis has been too slow. CHEM Trust urges the government to take more ambitious action and to urgently turn off the tap on PFAS pollution. Alongside other NGOs, CHEM Trust is working in the UK and the EU calling for a ban on all PFAS in consumer products by 2025; followed by a ban on the whole family of PFAS chemicals by 2030.

Watch the film free of charge here.

Read more news.