Yesterday, officers from Environmental Health visited a number of properties in St Peter and took samples from five boreholes as well as streams and bodies of water.
The tests, which will now be sent to a specialist laboratory in the UK, were ordered after very low levels of PFOS – perfluorooctane sulphonate – were discovered in a borehole when it was tested at the request of the owner.
PFOS is described as a ‘persistent organic pollutant’ which can be found in clothing treatments and firefighting foams. Its effects on human health, particularly in relation to cancer, are the subject of research but concentrations above a certain level are a cause for concern.
Stewart Petrie, director of Environmental Health, said the levels found in the borehole tested recently were very low – only just capable of being detected – and much lower than levels deemed safe by the World Health Organisation, the EU and the UK Drinking Water Inspectorate.
However, he added that all steps were now being taken to investigate and ascertain if it was a one-off, a false negative reading or if there was a wider issue that needed examining.
‘When a reading is so low [as in this case] we need to sample it again to make sure it is not a false negative,’ he said. ‘We have no idea why it is there. It is not where the PFOS plume we know about is, so my department is now working with Environmental Protection.
‘We have tested five other properties and a couple of streams and bodies of water just to try to find out if anything is going on and if so what. At the moment we haven’t got a clue. We have got one tiny amount which is well below levels deemed safe. That is not to say we are being complacent, and we have taken all the necessary steps.’
He added that the samples would also be tested locally for bacteria and chemicals, including nitrate levels, while the original borehole was due to be retested tomorrow. The results of the PFOS tests are expected back in around two weeks.
In the meantime, he said the advice remained the same that no one, particularly pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under five, should drink borehole water unless they knew what it contained.
PFOS has been in the headlines for two decades. In 2004, the States were paid £2.6 million by the US manufacturer of the firefighting foam previously used at the Airport which was found to contain the pollutant after it contaminated land and nearby water sources. The money was used to carry out work to the Airport training area so that contamination would not happen again.
Around 67 properties in what is known as the ‘plume area’ from that contamination were connected to mains water at the expense of the States and a number also had their water rates paid by the States.
