Question reference: S6W-23530
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 4 December 2023
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Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 December 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent campaign by the Royal Society of Chemistry to reduce levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water, including by reducing the cap per individual PFAS type to 10 nanograms per litre.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the potential risks posed by PFAS in drinking water and works closely with Scottish Water and the Drinking Water Quality Regulator to ensure risk is minimised. The Public Water Supply (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 were brought into force to align with the EU's recast Drinking Water Directive's (rDWD) updated list of parameters, which sets statutory limits on the combined concentration of a group of 20 named PFAS substances. These Regulations broadly align with the Royal Society of Chemistry's recommendation to limit the sum of PFAS to 10 nanograms per litre (0.1 µg/l)
There is also a legislative requirement for Scottish Water to carry out risk assessments of all drinking water supplies, and PFAS risk is assessed for every water supply. A further statutory duty is that Scottish Water must sample for any substance where it considers that there is risk, and this would include any other PFAS compounds that are not listed in the Regulations.