{"id":425053,"date":"2026-02-14T08:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T08:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/425053\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T08:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T08:16:07","slug":"race-to-find-source-of-carcinogenic-pfas-in-cumbria-and-lancashire-waters-pfas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/425053\/","title":{"rendered":"Race to find source of carcinogenic Pfas in Cumbria and Lancashire waters | Pfas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A string of toxic pollution hotspots has been uncovered across Cumbria and Lancashire<\/a>, with high levels of the banned cancer-causing \u201cforever chemical\u201d Pfos detected in rivers and groundwater at 25 sites.<\/p>\n

The contamination, spread across a large area, was uncovered by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian after a freedom of information request revealed high concentrations of Pfos in Environment Agency<\/a> samples taken in January 2025.<\/p>\n

Pfos is a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (Pfas)<\/a>, known as \u201cforever chemicals\u201d because they take hundreds or thousands of years to degrade. They are widely used in consumer products and some have been linked to a range of serious health problems.<\/p>\n

At one site, groundwater contained Pfos at 3,840ng\/l, alongside elevated levels of other banned Pfas<\/a> compounds. Twenty-five sites recorded Pfos concentrations well above drinking water guideline limits of 100ng\/l for the combined total of 48 Pfas compounds.<\/p>\n

The contamination spans an area of outstanding natural beauty with multiple protections for wildlife and habitats.<\/p>\n

A resident whose business\u2019s private well is polluted said they found out in November 2021 after being \u201cunofficially\u201d informed by an individual at the Environment Agency, and stopped drinking the water immediately. According to the resident, the agency had been testing the well for about 35 years because of concerns about \u201cchemical drift\u201d in the groundwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I contacted the agency, they offered no help,\u201d the resident said, adding that they were directed to Westmorland and Furness council, which \u201csaid they wished I had not been told, as they could not even test for Pfas \u2026 there was no help, no advice, no support of any kind\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to get the council to look for the source of the pollution but no one seemed interested,\u201d the resident said. \u201cThey said it looked like we were an outlier \u2026 nearly five years later I am still no wiser.\u201d<\/p>\n

Westmorland and Furness council said it was informed by the Environment Agency about the contaminated supply in late 2021 and that the business switched over to the mains water supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council has continued to support the business to ensure compliance in line with statutory requirements and the provision of a safe water supply. These arrangements remain in place and are being managed to ensure there is no risk to public safety,\u201d said a spokesperson.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency said it identified elevated levels of Pfas in the area in 2022 through its national surveillance monitoring programme, but stressed that responsibility for protecting users of private water supplies lies with local authorities.<\/p>\n

The agency said it alerted the private borehole owner after detecting Pfas above drinking water guidelines and advised them to contact the local council. It added that councils, the UK Health Security Agency, the Food Standards Agency and the Drinking Water<\/a> Inspectorate (DWI) were informed in 2025.<\/p>\n

Possible sources of Pfos contamination identified in the Environment Agency\u2019s March 2025 report include a paper mill in Beetham, where Pfas are known to have been used. Sites where Pfas-contaminated paper pulp may have been spread on land are also flagged as potential hotspots where Pfas could contaminate soils and enter the food chain.<\/p>\n

The mill\u2019s operator went into administration and its assets were sold to a new operator in June 2025. Responsibility for earlier operations now sits with the former company\u2019s administrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mill is now operated by a new legal entity,\u201d said Robyn Khan, director of the new operator Pelta Medical Papers. \u201cSince this acquisition, there has been no use of Pfas-based chemicals on site, and the mill does not manufacture paper containing Pfas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny manufacture of Pfas-containing paper products occurred under the previous legal entity and ownership, in line with regulatory guidance and permit conditions in force at the time. We take our environmental responsibilities seriously and will continue to engage appropriately with the relevant regulatory authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mill\u2019s administrators, Kroll Advisory, did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency report also identified five historical landfills and one operational landfill as possible sources of Pfas, alongside sewage treatment works, fire stations and discharges from caravan parks.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s new Pfas action plan, published on Tuesday<\/a>, sets out proposals to tighten controls on the chemicals, including new guidance on contaminated land, a consultation on statutory limits on Pfas levels in drinking water, and potentially tougher rules for industrial sites.<\/p>\n

But Water UK wants Pfas banned altogether. It said: \u201cWe risk falling further behind other European nations, which are increasingly banning these substances and demanding manufacturers pay for clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chloe Alexander, the chemicals policy lead at Wildlife and Countryside Link, said the government\u2019s plan was \u201ca roadmap to nowhere\u201d, warning it contained no binding phaseouts, no clear timetable, and no commitment to match the EU\u2019s proposed Pfas ban.<\/p>\n

There are about 33,000 private water supplies in England and \u201cit is becoming ever clearer how vulnerable some private water supplies are as the climate changes\u201d, a DWI report said, with more running dry during droughts and others increasingly hit by environmental pollution.<\/p>\n

Hannah Evans from the environmental charity Fidra said: \u201cThis is yet another case demonstrating just how prevalent Pfas pollution is and the real-world consequences. Persistent chemicals should not be in our drinking water, our food, or our bodies. We urgently need to turn off the tap and transition the UK towards Pfas-free alternatives, many of which are already widely available.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A string of toxic pollution hotspots has been uncovered across Cumbria and Lancashire, with high levels of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-425053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}