Minister Pow’s visit to the Wye highlights the ongoing high profile of river pollution. More alarming for Government (see below) is the Daily Telegraph has begun a Clean Rivers campaign which it has run on its front page for several days this week. Minister Pow visit to the River Wye Defra Media ‘There has been […]
Pharmaceuticals in rivers threaten world health – study BBC ‘Pollution of the world’s rivers from medicines and pharmaceutical products poses a “threat to environmental and global health”, a report says (see link below). Paracetamol, nicotine, caffeine and epilepsy and diabetes drugs were widely detected in a University of York study. The research is among the […]
Guardian Drinking water containing dangerously high levels of toxic chemicals has been pumped into the homes of more than 1,000 people, the Guardian can reveal. Cambridge Water has admitted it removed a supply containing four times the legal limit of perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) from the homes of customers in south Cambridgeshire in June last year. […]
The Guardian Jan 29th Sandra Laville and Rachel Salvidge ‘It is desperate’: how Environment Agency staff were silenced as pollution worsened As public disgust at foul waterways in England grew, the body responsible for protecting them tried to stifle internal criticism The internal email dropped into staff inboxes at a time when public outrage about pollution in English […]
https://www.ciwem.org/news/tackling-sewage-borne-litter Guest blog by Dr Peter Matthews, past president of CIWEM and former chair of Natural Resources Wales Government is currently calling for evidence on commonly littered and problematic plastic items. In line with its stated commitment to eliminate avoidable plastic waste by 2042 it is consulting on bans on a range of single-use plastics. It wants […]
Environment Agency ‘Enforcement Undertakings accepted by the Environment Agency: 10 September to December 31 2021′ Environment Agency ‘Our approach to enforcement undertakings (EUs) An EU is a voluntary offer made by an offender to: put right the effects of their offending put right the impact on third parties make sure the offence cannot happen again […]
Cardiff University: Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found in otters across England and Wales – new research 25 January 2022 A group of synthetic substances known as “forever chemicals” because of their environmental persistence have been found in otters across England and Wales. The study led by Cardiff University’s Otter Project analysed historical data and found perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl […]
In January we covered the ‘ignore reports of low-impact pollution events’ story. ‘Guardian ‘England’s Environment Agency has told its staff to “shut down” and ignore reports of low-impact pollution events because it does not have enough money to investigate them, according to a leaked internal report.’ This story hit a nerve. The Guardian did a further article […]