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leanahosea

@leanahosea

Jan 8 • 12 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X

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The beautiful River Plym entering the important shellfish waters of the Plym Estuary, whence they flow into the Plymouth Sound Marine "Protected" Area. The value of these waters to wildlife might make you think every step would be taken to prevent their pollution... 🧵1/12

A glance at our Watershed Pollution Map, reveals just how many potential pollution sources there are in this area, in spite of its value to wildlife:
2/12 watershedinvestigations.com/home/find-out-…

Multiple roads cross the estuary and run along the West side of the estuary. Runoff from roads can contain heavy metals, arsenic, oil, tyre particles, microplastics, PAHs:
3/12 theguardian.com/environment/20…

Here, @stormwater_jo describes the horrible harm PAHs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, cause to wildlife:
Thank you to @bill10brod for the photo. 4/12 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/why…

Below this road, Tory Brook, enters the river, having travelled along the middle of a busy road, past a disused landfill & a sewage plant - the water at this point is often cloudy. Many thanks to Ashley Bullard for the photo. 5/12

Further down, the estuary passes a landfill. Last year we reported on the pollutants seeping from current & disused landfill:
6/12 theguardian.com/environment/ar…

Sewage, landfill, road runoff & industrial sites, create a cocktail of chemicals & pharmaceuticals in our waterways, as @AlistairBoxall's research exposed last year.
7/12
theguardian.com/environment/ar…

On the West Bank of the estuary is Blagdon Meadow - built on the site of a disused landfill. Research by Dr David Megson & @neill_pippa revealed the way we treat discharge from current or disused landfill can increase levels of banned PFOS & PFOA.
8/12 theguardian.com/environment/20…

PFOS has been detected in Plymouth Sound. Possible sources for this are many: PFOS can be associated with landfill, military sites, sewage, industrial sites.

9/12 watershedinvestigations.com/home/find-out-…

Around the river mouth are a number of industrial sites with permits to discharge:
10/12 watershedinvestigations.com/home/find-out-…

All this is not to point fingers: we all contribute to landfill, we buy consumer goods, we drive cars - but there are reasonable steps that could be taken by politicians, industry & us as individuals to restore estuaries to the hubs of wildlife they should be. 11/12

Find out what's in you local river, estuary, coast or stream, using our Watershed Pollution Map.

12/12watershedinvestigations.com/home/find-out-…

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More from @leanahosea

leanahosea

@leanahosea

Jun 12

Feared cuts to flood defence funds did not emerge in the spending review. In fact, pledged money rose 5% - welcome news, says @floodmary but there's still more to be done:
1/10

If 1.5mn homes are being built, Mary says, planning law needs to be changed so that every single home built is flood resilient, or risk trapping families into the misery of being flooded out each winter.
2/10

floodmary.com/help-and-resou…

Flooding is becoming more frequent - at the Environmental Audit Committee @ConnorPR of @Shrewsburyflood described how the home where her family have lived for generations has gone from flooding every 7-8 years, to 2-3 times a year.
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leanahosea

@leanahosea

Jan 14

In the little market town of Bentham, people used to let their children play in firefighting foam that spilled out of the Angus Fibre plant onto the streets, little knowing it was laden with PFOS, a chemical now globally banned due to harm to health. 🧵

Thanks to tireless investigatiom by @neill_pippa, we now know Bentham to be the most PFAS polluted town in England, a discovery which has, sadly, made local people aware of the risk to their health & the health of their families. 2/ channel4.com/news/the-resid…

Local people have rallied to meet the challenge: organising an activist group, Cleaner Bentham, which may be about to bring the UK's first legal case around PFAS pollution. 3/
channel4.com/news/the-resid…

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leanahosea

@leanahosea

Nov 17, 2024

'Fossil fuel + other petrochemical companies have used "the false promise of plastic recycling" to increase virgin-plastic production exponentially over the past six decades.'

99% of plastics are made from chemicals sources from fossil fuels.🧵1/7

search.app/?link=https%3A…

The remaining 1% are bioplastics - which have a lower carbon footprint but, according to research by Bethanie Carney-Almroth, still contain many chemicals that are toxic to people + wildlife. 2/7

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

Only a tiny percentage of plastic is recycled, the rest ends up in landfill or burned in incinerators. @georgiaes

Fossil fuel firms, seeing a shrinking share of the energy market, aim to shift to plastic production. 3/7
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

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leanahosea

@leanahosea

Oct 19, 2024

A ban on plastic packaging for fruit & veg would cut 13,000 tons of plastic waste, & 100,000 tons of wasted food - because bags cause people to buy more than they can use - & reduce exposure to PFAS, phthalates & bisphenols found in plastic packaging.🧵

theguardian.com/business/2024/…

Bisphenol A, found in some packaging is linked to obesity, reproductive issues & cancers. Exposure to phthalates in the womb has been linked to disruption of reproductive organ development in boys, early onset of puberty in girls. 2/7

chemtrust.org/food-packaging/

PFAS, often present in food packaging, have been linked to cancers, thyroid conditions, obesity, diabetes, reduced immunity, kidney, liver & fertility issues, pregnancy complications, harm to unborn children, inflammation.
3/7

pfasfree.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

Read 7 tweets

leanahosea

@leanahosea

Oct 16, 2024

The Environment Agency hope to get chemical firms to fund clean up of pollution from the PFAS they produced. Historically, applying the 'polluter pays' principle has been a very mixed bag 🧵

theguardian.com/environment/20…

The EU is currently developing a wastewater treatment plan where manufacturers of chemicals & cosmetics would have to fund their clean up at wastewater treatment plant. But the EU is a huge market for those companies so they're in a stronger negotiating position than the UK.
2/5

When we interviewed Oliver Loebel of EurEau, he was clear - removing PFAS pollution is difficult, expensive & energy intensive. Far better to prevent PFAS pollution in the first place.
3/5
theguardian.com/environment/20…

Read 5 tweets

leanahosea

@leanahosea

Sep 8, 2024

The River Wye is being choked by a cocktail of ammonia, nitrogen & phosphate, seething in waters stripped of the shade of woodland, wetland & water crowfoot, a new study commissioned by @WUFoundation & carried out by @cardiffuni using eDNA finds. 🧵1/8

In fish, ammonia "damages the gills' ability to absorb oxygen turning them an angry red or, even, bleeding. By that stage, it's game over" @Petex70 of the @AnglingTrust told us. Ammonia in the Wye may be 1 reason for a steep decline in salmon numbers. 2/8

cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/2838…

The Wye has been plagued by increasingly frequent algal blooms, devastating wildlife. We spoke to @gillieUB (who made this video), who told us the river is fairly clear until around where it meets the Ithon - site of many intensive poultry farms. 3/8

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ris…