Water regulator applies stricter PFAS limits to drinking water in England and Wales

November 7, 2024

Read the full article by Rebecca Trager (Chemistry World)

"The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) is set to apply more stringent restrictions on the levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) allowed in drinking water in England and Wales. Water companies will now have to enforce a limit of 100 nanograms per litre (ng/l) cumulatively for 48 different PFAS. Currently, they only measure whether drinking water samples exceed 100ng/l for 48 individual types of PFAS, which has meant that the total amount of PFAS could far surpass the high-risk threshold.

The updated guidance, expected to become effective in January 2025, goes further than those of the EU and Scotland, which enforce the same 100ng/l for only 20 PFAS chemicals.

This new action by the independent regulator of drinking water follows the #CleanUpPFAS campaign that the Royal Society Of Chemistry launched last year, which called on the UK government to establish new statutory action standards for PFAS in drinking water with a maximum concentration of 10ng/l per single PFAS and 100ng/l for the overall summed concentration of all PFAS. The RSC kicked off that initiative in October 2023, after its analysis found that more than a third of water courses tested in England and Wales contained ‘high’ or ‘medium’ risk levels of PFAS."