Big news!
We've been writing about PFAS pollution a lot and now one of them - PFOA - has been categorised as a carcinogen. It's been found in drinking water and PFAS are everywhere
‘Forever chemical’ in English tap water samples carcinogenic 1/6
theguardian.com/environment/20… They've been found in drinking water sources across England and @leanahosea and I have found PFOA in tap water for @WATERSHED_i
2/
‘Forever chemicals’ found in drinking water sources across England
theguardian.com/environment/20…

Lots of chest thumping about government slapping enormous (up to £250m) civil penalties on water companies for sewage pollution! It sounds shockingly like a good idea, but could it ever happen? And might it actually make things worse?

A few wee thoughts... 1/ At first glance, Ranil Jayawardena’s pledge to increase to the cap on civil penalties for water company pollution 1,000-fold, from £250k to £250m, appeared to be a big win for the environment. 2/

Are the wheels coming off the Environment Agency?
A thread 1/8 At the end of last year, Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan has sent a strongly worded message to staff warning them against speaking to the media. 2/8
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SEWAGE POLLUTION: The water sector is an “industry that seems frankly out of control”, which operates systems “designed to obfuscate and confuse” and regulators are “failing the public at every level” @CommonsEAC heard this wk. More choice quotes... (1/6)
endsreport.com/article/171383… Prof Peter Hammond says water firms illegally polluting rivers "at least 10 times more" than the EA is identifying and prosecuting. 2/

Hurrah! Boris has announced new nature targets to help dodge the imminent ecological crisis!
Wait.
That's because we completely bombed on the last set of goals, which we had a DECADE to meet and now wildlife is clinging on by the skin of its teeth
Let's take a closer look: 1/10 Boris said 30% of the UK’s land will be protected by 2030.
In England 26% is already protected by law as national parks or AONBs, so it's really only a 4 percentage point increase here. 2/10

Cor. And to think the firm is due to be sentenced for multiple breaches of environmental permits shortly (1/6)

Southern Water boss nets £538k bonus as cases of pollution soar thismon.ee/a/8775517 via @ThisIsMoney Southern Water in court over 8,400 illegal pollution incidents (2/6)

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LEND ME YOUR OUTRAGE! ALL of England's rivers are polluted according to the government's latest assessment. If you think this should not be happening in the 21st century then pls share this thread far and wide and let's try to embarrass gov into doing something about it. 1/13 2/13
In 2019, the Environment Agency assessed around 4,600 surface water and groundwater bodies in 2019 for their ecological and chemical condition as required under the WFD and WAS NOT ABLE TO GIVE ONE a clean bill of health endsreport.com/article/169474…

You might want to think twice before taking the plunge at some of these beaches.
I for one am rethinking that dip at Clacton Groyne.

Map by @J_J_Carpenter And here are the rest...
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Expect water shortages of 3.6bn litres every day without rapid evasive action. I've already told you this, but HOO BOY 3bn litres is STILL lost daily via leaks. And btw, overabstraction is damaging the environment and sewage spills are insane 1/ endsreport.com/article/168914… I've been shouting about this for ages. Parts of England are at serious risk of running out of water within 20 years (sooner in places). @DefraGovUK @EnvAgency & @Ofwat to blame, according @CommonsPAC, adding to body of evidence suggesting water has been mismanaged for decades 2/

The seas around our shores are not well. The UK is missing 11 out of 15 good health targets with a deadline of this year, according to @DefraGovUK data, and wildlife is suffering. But could things be about to change? 1/5
endsreport.com/article/168554… Highly protected marine areas banning damaging activities should be set up to allow struggling ocean ecosystems to recover and to help tackle climate change, according to a review published today, led by former fisheries minister @RichardHRBenyon 2/5
endsreport.com/article/168554…

Not only does the lockdown have profound consequences for nature, it endangers the government's ability to to deliver its environmental programmes, experts told me for this article. Here's a little of what they said (1/7)
endsreport.com/article/168321… Over the last 10-15 years, gov has outsourced much environmental delivery to NGOs, but this crucial implementation role is now at risk with green charities collectively losing around £35 million in income per month, @RSBenwell told me (2/7)

HMMM. While it's great to see reports of improved air quality and wildlife making incursions into cities during lockdown, it's not all beer and skittles for nature. Here are 9 reasons why it's probably pretty bad (1/10)
endsreport.com/article/168230… #coronavirus Wildlife crime such as shooting and vandalism is "proliferating", according to NGOs (2/10)
endsreport.com/article/168132…

The @EnvAgency is relaxing a range of green rules during the pandemic and being flexible on others (1/4)
endsreport.com/article/168062…
@TheENDSReport Air and water monitoring rules are being relaxed (2/4)
endsreport.com/article/168063…

Good to see the Sun Times catching up! (1/3) For more in depth coverage see @TheENDSReport here: endsreport.com/article/167823… @OxonAndrew And here (2/3) endsreport.com/article/167912…

(1/3) A very real chance that #coronavirus is making it into rivers via sewage from water treatment works.
endsreport.com/article/167823…
@Feargal_Sharkey @Matthew_Wright @MarkLloydRT @RSBenwell @OxonAndrew (2/3) Not a peep from @DefraGovUK and @EnvAgency in response to my questions on it. But I do realise everyone's under enormous pressure at the moment.

(1/9) Water shortages ahead. @EnvAgency says England will be short by 3.4 billion litres per day between 2025 and 2050 without fast action. But...

endsreport.com/article/167720… (2/9) ...the EA, govt and water firms have known for a really long time that we've needed to build new infrastructure and stop leaks.

A few years ago it was predicted that England would have a water shortage of 450Ml/day in 2040.

Today The Times reports that Britain could see 2m sea level rise, way above @metoffice predictions, but this is not the first time this has been forecast. (1/4)

thetimes.co.uk/article/think-… A study published in May by @BristolUni made the same claims (2/4)

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Some nuggets from our big #climatechange feature this month.
Lots of places around Britain's coast are being battered by rising tides and ever wilder storms, and some communities are having to abandon their homes and villages completely as properties crash into the sea 1/ Sea level rise is accelerating. The Met Office says some places will sea 1.15m by the end of the century, but a University of Bristol study concluded that global total sea level rise could exceed 2m by that time. 2/

Too... much... policy...
The new and revised Environment Bill is back!
@TheENDSReport team is on its knees following its bumper batch of Brexit Day analysis but has striven to provide you as much #environmentbill news as you can handle 1/ The new version includes new powers to “stop the exports of polluting plastic waste to developing countries” as well as a requirement for ministers to regularly review international green law 2/
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Brexit day tomorrow.
Here @TheENDSReport we've been busting guts and brains to find out how it might play out for environmental rules and standards 1/5 2/5 How will green standards be protected (or not) in trade deals? Could the UK follow in the Ukraine's footsteps? asks @simonpickstone
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Strap yourselves in, chaps!

A Torynado has hit Whitehall and things are going to look quite different when the dust's settled... (1/4) Boz n Dom are planning a shake-up of the civil service that could see DECC (Dept of Energy and Climate Change) resurrected and a number of new super-ministries created (2/4)
endsreport.com/article/166886…