Sunderland firm secures first contracts to remediate harmful PFAS chemicals
A leading environmental company with a base in Sunderland is to start two groundbreaking projects to remediate land affected by controversial contaminants that are a threat to human health.
ATG Group, which operates across the UK, Northern Ireland and central Europe, has secured separate deals with a UK fire authority and an international power company to remediate land contaminated by PFAS.
The contracts, worth more than £1million, are the first for the innovative technology company, which has remediated contaminated soil and groundwater, treated domestic oil spills and removed invasive plant species across the UK, Ireland and Europe for 18 years.
Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are also known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they never break down. They are a group of around 10,000 industrial chemicals valued for their detergent and non-stick properties that have been used since the 1950s in everyday products. The list includes fire-fighting foams, non-stick pans, cosmetics and some pesticides.
The chemicals, which bio-accumulate in humans and aquatic fauna, are known to cause significant harm to human health and the environment. Whilst their production and use are now restricted, they don’t readily break down and are present in high concentrations at thousands of sites across the world, threatening water supplies and the wider environment decades after being used.
Scientific research over the past 20 years has concluded that PFAS chemicals are extremely harmful to the environment and health. The European Environment Agency has found that PFAS exposure can lead to a range of conditions including liver damage, thyroid disease, fertility issues and cancer.
PFAS is thought to be contaminating more than 200 million people across the USA and its environmental protection agency has set legally enforceable limits of the chemicals in drinking water.
In the UK, water companies are not required by law to reduce the presence of PFAS unless they reach a very high level. But a number of organisations are facing regulations to remove harmful PFAS from land during redevelopment to prevent it from harming the wider public.
ATG Group – whose North East offices are based at the North East BIC – has helped develop remediation services to deal with PFAS contamination and work on its first contracts will begin in the autumn.
Duncan Sanders, ATG Group’s Director for England and a qualified and experienced hydrogeologist, is leading the remediation work being carried out on our first contracts.
He said: “Firefighting foam is just one of the many products that contained PFAS. Although AFFF foam was banned from manufacture from 2020, the chemicals never break down and remain a risk on land where they were used. Evidence shows that because it does not break down, it is now leaching into aquifers, impacting surface water features and affecting drinking water supplies.
“One of our first contracts is with a UK fire authority that wants to remediate the soil and groundwater at a fire station with a fire training centre. The contaminated fluorine foams were routinely used before they were banned and are threatening an adjacent river. PFAS contamination is likely to be present on any land where fluorine foams were used, such as airports, fire training centres, refineries, ports and military sites.
“The planned remediation works – which include contamination source removal, groundwater treatment and an in ground permeable reactive barrier – are required by the Environment Agency and Local Authority as part of the re-development of the site.”
A second contract has been successfully secured with a power company that owns land where a series of fires and fire training took place. The land requires PFAS remediation before being sold to a developer for a different use.
Managing Director Mark McKinney said he was delighted that the two contracts had been secured.
He added: “ATG Group has worked with numerous companies within the construction sector remediating contaminated soil and riverbeds for more than 18 years. The soil has traditionally contained hazardous and non-hazardous material from previous use, often in manufacturing, such as metal and chemicals from the likes of shipbuilding or ironworks.
“PFAS is an emerging contaminate that is becoming widely known as harmful. We have been working for some time to put in place a service to remediate land affected by PFAS alongside the contamination we already remediate.
“We are looking forward to working with our clients in ensuring the development of their land can be done safely and within regulations.”