Parliament’s PFAS report: Voluntary action is no longer enough

The Environmental Audit Committee, which our CEO Howard Marles gave evidence to last year, has published its long-awaited report on PFAS contamination in the UK. It wants the UK to follow a broader trend seen across the EU and the rest of the world, moving towards tighter regulations and a stronger focus on implementing removal technologies to protect the environment and public health. For the water sector, the report goes much further than the Government’s PFAS plan. A number of recommendations jumped out at us:

• Rather than addressing individual PFAS chemicals one by one, the committee recommends for PFAS to be regulated as a class, which would lead to significantly expanded monitoring requirements for water companies across the UK.

• It has recommended the Government support the development and deployment of scalable, cost-effective PFAS remediation technologies by directing investment through UK Research and Innovation into research, innovation and practical support.

• They should also publish formally approved guidance for PFAS remediation to provide businesses, local authorities and regulators with the certainty needed to deliver timely, safe and effective remediation.

• The polluter pays principle should be applied to establish a national PFAS remediation fund that could potentially fund regulatory frameworks

Next month, Curio Water will be launching its BlueBarrier Treatment Train at Utility Week Live – the next stage in our work to develop evidence-based solutions for micropollutant and PFAS removal in wastewater.Working with an alliance of world-leading water technology specialists, the first stage of BlueBarrier water treatment process will gather data at sites across the UK, assessing the effectiveness of different combinations of Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), Biological Activated Carbon (BAC), ozone and ultrafiltration against both micropollutants and PFAS.

The aim is to build a comprehensive, independently verifiable picture of what works under real conditions, at scale.This kind of systematic, collaborative approach to testing and removal is precisely what the industry needs as we move towards action on not just PFAS, but other micropollutants in our waterways at persistent levels of concerns.