Report shows toxic forever chemicals in English rivers bust new European safety limits

More than three quarters of English rivers known to carry toxic, so-called forever chemicals – substances that never break down in the environment – would fail proposed new EU safety standards for surface water according to findings from The Rivers Trust.

A study of Environment Agency data by the Rivers Trust found that “at least 77%” of England’s rivers would break European Union (EU) safety limits for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with 42% at five times the safe level."

The study found that English forever-chemical hotspots included rivers with ten times or more PFAS than the proposed EU safe thresholds. “Official monitoring data only covers a handful of PFAS chemicals and not all rivers are tested, so actual pollution levels could be much worse,” the River Trust warned in a report on the study prepared for the coalition of 69 nature and environment groups, Wildlife and Countryside Link.

The report said proposed new EU Environmental Quality Standards are set for a group of 24 different PFAS, rather than for individual PFAS, to protect people and wildlife from the cumulative effect from an exposure to chemical cocktails. Five EEA countries have also submitted a proposal to ban the use of around 10,000 PFAS in the EU, and there are EU commitments to adopt a grouping approach on chemical regulation. In freshwater, the UK only stipulates a safe threshold for one type of forever chemical - perfluorooctane sulfonate.

Forever chemicals originate in commonplace items including food packaging, teflon coating and outdoor clothes.