Deputy John Young says he is considering publishing all reports of contamination as he gets them in an effort to expose the true extent of the problem.
He has not ruled out moving to ban potentially dangerous chemicals commonly used in farming, and has questioned why the States are no longer investing in connecting the ‘high proportion’ of properties using boreholes to mains water.
His comments come as residents whose boreholes may have been affected by a second historical pollution incident involving perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, prepare to meet Environment officials at a meeting on Wednesday.
And on Monday, the Jersey Royal Company moved to reassure Islanders that it uses chemicals with ‘great responsibility’ after levels of the weedkiller glyphosate 50 times over the regulatory limit were found in a stream that feeds Queen’s Valley reservoir.
The incident in February is believed to have been a point-source pollution incident caused by a spill, which the company said it was confident was not a result of its activities. The Island’s drinking water supply was unaffected, Jersey Water said.
However, Deputy Young believes such incidents are evidence of the need to not only consider banning the use of certain chemicals as other countries, including France, have done, but to rethink farming practices altogether.
‘Glyphosate is used as part of the cycle of growing that the agricultural industry uses, certainly potatoes. I want to make sure we switch away from this cropping that demands excess use of fertiliser and chemicals, into crops like hemp and, dare I say it, medicinal cannabis that doesn’t need this type of intervention that causes us contamination. At the end of the day one has to ask of that cropping regime, where does the financial benefit go?
‘It is being controlled by two farms that are controlled outside of the Island, effectively. There are significant questions about that.’
The issue of water pollution is ‘right up there’ at the top of his priority list, alongside urban issues, the minister added. And he has now asked officers to investigate the Queen’s Valley pollution to find out ‘who is responsible and how’.
‘I get regular reports from the water resources team on contamination and I am very concerned about the amount of exceeding of legal limits that we are getting in chemicals, particularly in agricultural chemicals,’ he said. ‘We already have a huge problem with nitrates. I know the agricultural industry have worked hard to try to reduce that down but we are still getting these instances that are not acceptable.’
He added that he was ‘absolutely shocked’ by the Queen’s Valley incident, which he said was ‘absolutely unacceptable’.
Asked if he would seek to ban the use of chemicals such as glyphosate, he said in the past he had said the situation would be monitored pending evidence, but now there was clear evidence of such pollution incidents then it had to be considered.
‘If we are going to get these sorts of contaminations that shifts the balance, I am very unhappy about that,’ he said.
‘I need to talk about it with my scientific team and the agricultural industry.’
He added: ‘One of the things I am thinking about doing is whether I should publish openly the regular report I get of contamination in surface water because I am not happy about it at all.
‘We also need to recognise that a very high proportion of people are dependent on private boreholes and they might not have any options other than to buy bottled water. Years ago the Island used to have a programme of investing in mains drains and connecting homes but that programme seems to have dried up. I don’t understand why – it is not good. It is not acceptable when ground water pollutes people’s boreholes.’
