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Patrick Byrne, Professor of Water Science, Liverpool John Moores University

How I tracked the biggest hidden sources of forever chemical pollution in UK rivers – new study

Patrick Byrne samples the water in the Mersey catchment. Patrick Byrne, CC BY-NC-ND

The amount of toxic “forever chemicals” flowing into the River Mersey in north-west England has reached some of the highest levels recorded anywhere in the world.

My team’s research links much of this contamination to old landfills, waste facilities and past industrial activity. Even if these chemicals were banned tomorrow, they would continue polluting our rivers for decades, possibly centuries.

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