Skip to menu Skip to main content

Explore more:

Popular searches

Donate Join us

RSC challenges UK Government to reduce PFAS levels in British water as research highlights serious health risks posed by ‘forever chemicals’

Article

The Royal Society of Chemistry is calling on the UK Government to overhaul its drinking water standards, after new analysis reveals more than a third of water courses tested in England and Wales contain medium or high-risk levels of PFAS, more commonly known as forever chemicals.

This group of widely used and enduring chemicals has been linked to a range of serious adverse health conditions including testicular cancer, thyroid disease, increased cholesterol levels, liver damage and fertility issues, as well as damaging the development of unborn children. Millions of people interact with PFAS every day as they are used to add qualities like non-stick coatings to pans and stain-proofing to furniture and can also be found in batteries.

The RSC is calling on the UK Government to reduce the cap on PFAS concentration levels that require immediate water treatment with its #CleanUpPFAS campaign, saying the current limits do not go far enough. At present, 35% and 37% of English and Welsh water courses that were tested contain a medium or high-risk level of PFOS and PFOA respectively – but these are just two types of PFAS out of the thousands that exist.

The Royal Society of Chemistry is pushing for a tenfold reduction of the current cap per individual PFAS type – from 100 nanograms per litre to 10 nanograms per litre – as well as an overall limit of 100 nanograms per litre for the total amount of PFAS.

Britain’s thresholds are currently far more lenient than those in other leading economies. For example, the United States is introducing a limit of four nanograms per litre for two of the most common PFAS types – PFOS and PFOA – and the EU’s Drinking Water Directive states that 20 widespread PFAS must collectively not exceed 100 nanograms per litre in total.

A picture of Stephanie Metzger, wearing a black top and smiling

Stephanie Metzger (pictured right), Policy Advisor at the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “Here in the UK, we monitor for a long list of PFAS, but we’re lagging far behind the US and the EU when it comes to the amount allowed in our drinking water and what is considered healthy.

"We know that PFAS can be filtered from drinking water – the technology exists, so increasing the level of filtration is just a matter of expense and political will.

“In the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s own words, levels above 10 nanograms per litre pose a medium or high risk to public health. We’re seeing more and more studies that link PFAS to a range of very serious medical conditions, and so we urgently need a new approach for the sake of public health.”

This graphical illustration shows four test tubes, each displaying the appropriate levels of allowable PFAS. The two on the left represent the UK and appear under a Union Jack. The left-hand tube shows the current levels, which are low risk (less than 10 nanograms per litre), medium risk (between 10 and 100 nanograms per litre) and high risk (more than 100 nanograms per litre); the second test tube shows our proposed levels of 10 nanograms per litre individually and 100 nanograms per litre collectively. Right of this is the EU level, which states that a collective maximum of 100 nanograms per litre covering 20 different types of PFAS. The final test tube, on the far right, shows the proposed US level, which would see four nanograms per litre allowed for the two main types of PFAS.

A diagram showing the current and proposed PFAS thresholds in the UK, EU and USA. Picture: RSC

Launching an interactive map, using data from the Forever Pollution Project, to allow people to look at the levels of PFAS in their local waterways, the Royal Society of Chemistry is now calling on people to write to their parliamentarian to demand change and pass stricter statutory drinking water standards.

Samples from the River Thames have recorded the highest PFAS concentrations in the country, while water sources in all regions of England and Wales contain levels of PFAS that the Drinking Water Inspectorate classifies as either medium or high risk.

The Royal Society of Chemistry has also warned that a lack of cohesion among government departments and agencies is a major barrier to effective chemicals regulation in the UK and recommends the establishment of a National Chemicals Agency.

Stephanie Metzger added: “We need an overarching national regulator for chemicals management, and the gold standard approach would be to create a National Chemicals Agency, which could enable greater cohesiveness and connectivity.

“PFAS have an important role to play in our society – they’re used in batteries, protective clothing for firefighters, and medical devices, among a number of other uses. We just need to make sure PFAS are handled appropriately during manufacturing, disposed of safely, and filtered out of our drinking water, so that we can keep all the benefits without the adverse side effects, and a National Chemicals Agency could be key to helping achieve this.”

This graphic shows the flow of PFAS from their formation through their useful life and eventually into the human body. Starting in the top left is industry, represented by an illustration of a chemical plant. From here, PFAS are used in firefighting materials, namely the foam used in fire engines and extinguishers, both of which are pictured at the bottom of the left-hand column. PFAS also go into consumer goods and food packaging, which is at the top of the second column and represented by a trainer, a pan, a glove, a chair, a lipstick and a chip container. From consumer goods, PFAS then travel through waste infrastructure, visually represented by a water treatment plant and a bin wagon in the middle of the second column. Firefighting run-off and water infrastructure discharge then go into the environment, which is shown at the bottom of the second column with a water course and a fish. The PFAS then go into food and drinking water, which are represented at the bottom of the third column with a cow, apple, fish, carrot and glass of water. From here, they go into people, which are located at the top of the third column.

The lifecycle of a PFAS - from creation to human. Picture: RSC (adapted from Arnika)

The Royal Society of Chemistry is calling on the Government to:

  • Establish new statutory action standards for PFAS in drinking water with a maximum concentration of 10 ng/L per single PFAS and 100 ng/L for the overall summed concentration of all PFAS.
  • Ensure the many hundreds of types of PFAS are reported and captured in a national inventory.
  • Impose and enforce stricter regulatory limits on allowable levels of PFAS in industrial discharges.
  • Develop plans for a national chemicals regulator to provide better strategic coordination.

To access the interactive map and find out more about the Royal Society of Chemistry’s #CleanUpPFAS campaign, please visit: rsc.li/clean-up-pfas.

The diagram shows a biopsied white woman and a black man with lines coming off their torsos linking to labels that detail the various health hazards associated with prolonged exposure to elevated levels of PFAS. The ailments affecting women with a high degree of certainty are thyroid disease, high cholesterol, liver damage and kidney cancer; the conditions affecting women with lower certainty are inflammatory bowel disease, increased time to pregnancy and pregnancy-induced hypertension/pre-eclampsia. The female body also has lines coming off that relate to a range of impact on the development of unborn children (namely, delayed mammary gland development, reduced response to vaccines, and lower birth weight, which are all considered high certainty; and obesity, early puberty onset and increased miscarriage risk, which are all consider lower certainty). The conditions coming off the male are also split into high and lower certainty risk categories. High-certainty ailments affecting men are thyroid disease, high cholesterol, liver damage, kidney cancer, and an elevated risk of testicular cancer; lower-certainty issues are inflammatory bowel disease and low sperm count and mobility.

The potential health hazards associated with prolonged exposure to elevated levels of PFAS Picture: RSC (Image adapted from European Environment Agency: Emerging chemical risks in Europe - ‘PFAS’)

What are PFAS?

Per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely used chemicals containing the perfluorocarbon moiety. The PFAS family comprises more than 10,000 different man-made compounds categorised into different sub-sets. They are known for their unique water, oil, heat, stain and grease-repellent properties.

For more than 60 years, PFAS have been used in the manufacture of products such as fire-fighting foam, protective clothing, furniture, adhesives, food packaging, heat-resistant non-stick cooking surfaces and insulation of electrical wires, which has led to their widespread release into the environment.

The carbon-fluoride bond is one of the strongest in nature, making PFAS extremely resistant to natural degradation – they are often referred to as “forever chemicals” – so can contaminate soil and drinking water sources and have been found in rivers and lakes.

Combined with their widespread use and increasing evidence of toxicity, concerns are being raised about the impact of PFAS on human health and the environment.

There is an answer - UK company builds solution to trap and remove PFAS from water

Previous technologies to filter out PFAS from water were non-selective and so they could not reliably remove PFAS, were affected by other constituents in the water, and could not adapt easily to changing regulations.

However, Puraffinity, a spinout company from Imperial College London, has built a novel new technology that uses absorbent materials to essentially trap and remove PFAS from water. The solution can even be modified to target individual types of PFAS, which allows it to meet the demands of changing global regulations, and can be used in everything from large-scale industrial facilities to domestic applications.

Henrik Hagemann, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder at Puraffinity, said: “Our belief is that deep science holds the answers to a myriad of environmental challenges that pose a threat to our planet and wellbeing.

“We've seen tremendous gains in the Life Sciences sector in response to the pandemic, with vaccines and detection developed at pace. It's now time to shine that beacon of focus on addressing environmental challenges, where the tools of creative engineering and material science can provide a new horizon for addressing PFAS treatment requirements for the global market."

  • Join our calls to the UK government and explore the pitfalls of PFAS and what we want to change to improve water quality and safety on our main PFAS page.
  • Learn more about 'forever chemicals' on our Chemical Waste and Pollution page.
  • You can also read our full policy position concerning these important and resilient chemicals and what needs to change.