Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail any steps he plans to take to ensure that persistent pollutants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals and microplastics, are monitored across all waterbodies and wastewater.
Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs: My Department carries out surveillance monitoring of a range of persistent pollutants in freshwater, transitional and coastal water bodies for pollutants listed in the Water Framework Directive (Classification, Priority Substances and Shellfish Waters) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015.
You ask specifically about polyfluoroalkyl chemicals and microplastics. I can further advise that my Department:
currently works with the Food Standards Agency, to analyse PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) in shellfish from transitional and coastal waters;
has recently collaborated with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, (a DEFRA Executive Agency) to analyse PFOS and PFAS in sediments from coastal and transitional waters;
is currently developing a PFAS monitoring programme at suitable water surveillance sites across Northern Ireland;
is currently developing a coastal microplastic monitoring programme; and
has supported several PhD research projects on microplastic in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments.
Finally, the Department recognised chemicals as a pressure impacting on all Northern Ireland’s water bodies and intercoastal basins in the recent public consultation on Significant Water Management Issues, a key stage in the development of the River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) 2028-2033. Further work in this area will now be carried out as part of the development of effective measures to address the pressures on Northern Ireland’s water resources for inclusion in the RBMP.
ENDS
Your MLA 