Jersey's drinking water found 'fully compliant' but concerns remain over trace PFAS amounts

  • ITV Channel reporter Philip Sime speaks to the scientists and campaigners scrutinising PFAS in Jersey's water supply

A new report says Jersey's drinking water is "fully compliant" with Jersey, UK, and EU regulations - but campaigners against PFAS say it needs to be removed completely from the island's water supply.

Jersey Water published its annual water quality testing data, which found the 'forever chemical' known as PFAS is within safe limits.

The utility conducted over 42,000 tests on untreated and treated drinking water between October 2023 and September 2024.

They were testing for 48 PFAS compounds, pesticides, and nitrates.

Overall, the tests on drinking water achieved 99.95% compliance with regulatory standards set by Jersey, the UK, and the EU.

While eight PFAS compounds were detected, the average concentration of PFAS in Jersey's drinking water is 0.032 micrograms per litre - below the EU limit of 0.1.

But campaigners say action is needed to purge PFAS from the water supply entirely.

PFAS is known as a 'forever chemical' as it can take thousands of years to break down. Credit: ITV Channel

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - also known as 'forever chemicals' - are long-lasting contaminants that can be found globally.

PFAS was used in firefighting foam at Jersey Airport in the 1990s and leaked into some private boreholes, with trace amounts also finding their way into the island's main water supply.

The chemicals have since been linked to health conditions, including some types of cancer.

Head of Water Quality at Jersey Water, Jeanette Sheldon, says: "We're very aware of the concerns about PFAS around the island.

"We do share those concerns and we're doing everything we can to minimise PFAS in drinking water."

Campaigners in the West of the island have claimed that PFAS responsible for causing certain types of cancer. Credit: ITV Channel

Campaigners, such as Debbie Thorne, believe that PFAS needs to be completely filtered out of Jersey's water system.

Debbie says: "What we'd like the government to do is acknowledge that the problem does actually exist because we have evidence of that.

"We would like to work with them collectively and then we would like to address the issues of removal."

Speaking to ITV News, Health Minister Deputy Tom Binet says the Government is looking at how it can "drastically reduce" the levels in our water.

He explains: "It's good news that officially our water is within safe PFAS limits, but that's only limits that apply at the moment.

"I think it's commonly known that the levels of PFAS in water will have to come down [as] the regulations will come down in time."

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