Private water and wastewater companies in the UK are putting profits and shareholder dividends high above public health. With the never ending release of sludge into rivers and beaches that is more than proven. An ENDS investigation now shows that there is one more way these companies make money: by selling contaminated sludge to farmers.
Sewage sludge fertiliser sold to farmers by water companies contains a banned ‘forever chemical’ at levels in excess of those considered safe in emerging science, an ENDS investigation has revealed. An ENDS Report investigation has extracted and analysed the data behind the CIP biosolid report, revealing that PFOS – a type of PFAS which has been banned in the UK, and is linked to a range of diseases in humans, including kidney cancer, testicular cancer, hormone-related diseases, and fertility issues – has been found in high levels in sludge samples from England.
The highest test result analysed by ENDS comes from a Thames Water-operated sewage treatment centre in Crawley, near Gatwick Airport. It recorded a PFOS level of 135ppb in one sludge sample, a striking 135 times higher than the 1ppb risk threshold.
George Monbiot, the writer and environmentalist who is also one of the three founders of the campaign group Fighting Dirty, which recently attempted to sue the Environment Agency over its approach to sludge regulation, said the “neglect of this issue is astounding”:
“Farmers are being deceived about the contents of sewage sludge by the water companies, who continue to market it as safe. Consumers have no idea what they are eating. Ministers and regulators are looking the other way. This is a creeping environmental and public health crisis, which will become harder to address and harder to reverse the longer it goes on. We need immediate action. DEFRA must step up now to prevent a nationwide Dark Waters scandal.”
Read the article about the investigation on the ENDS Report website
Access the full ENDS investigation “Poisoned Pastures – exposing the chemical ‘russian roulette’ being played on English farmland” (paywall with free trial)
