11 Dec 2024
Concerns about PFAS pollution have increased in many European countries but comprehensive monitoring data are often limited. A European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing ‘PFAS pollution in European waters’, shows that most monitored rivers, transitional and coastal waters and a large part of lakes in Europe are polluted with at least one of the many extremely […]
21 Aug 2024
About 90kg (200lbs) of dead fish have been removed from a canal after a sodium cyanide leak in Walsall that experts fear could have “devastated the aquatic ecosystem” in the area. A 1km stretch of the waterway remains closed to the public after the chemical spill from a metal finishing company, Anochrome. The spill was declared a major […]
13 Aug 2024
Almost 500 different chemicals, some of which are banned, have been found in various mixtures across all 171 river and groundwater catchments tested in England in 2024, according to data from the Environment Agency, analysed by the Guardian and Watershed Investigations. More than half of them are classified as very toxic, toxic or harmful to aquatic […]
14 May 2024
A report launched by Stormwater Shepherds and CIWEM shines a light on the toxic cocktail of pollutants that runs off the UK’s road network and into our rivers and water sources every time it rains. The pollution comes from tyre particles, fuel spills and other vehicle fluids, road surface fragments, sediment and herbicides. These contain […]
23 Apr 2024
Research in the Science Advances journal has published results showing significant deposition of PFAAs from ocean sea spray. Forever chemicals Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are synthetic organic chemicals found globally in the environment due to their extensive use in various consumer and industrial applications and are often referred to as ‘forever chemicals’. Perfluoroalkyl acids […]
10 Apr 2024
A new international study, led by the University of New South Wales and published in Nature Geoscience, assessed the levels of PFAS contamination in surface and ground water around the globe. It found that much of our global source water exceeds PFAS safe drinking limits. “Many of our source waters are above PFAS regulatory limits,” says […]
28 Feb 2024
How unhealthy are our rivers? The latest Rivers Trust State of Our Rivers Report finds that: No single stretch of river in England or Northern Ireland is in good overall health. Just 15% of English, 31% of Northern Irish, and 50% of Irish river stretches reach good ecological health standards. Toxic chemicals persist in every […]
07 Feb 2024
The Guardian reports that seventeen landfills across England are known to be producing a highly toxic liquid substance containing some banned and potentially carcinogenic “forever chemicals”, in some cases at levels 260 times higher than that deemed safe for drinking water. However the government says it does not know where these landfills are. Over a […]
