What’s the forever chemical TFA doing in the UK’s rivers?

The river Kelvin runs through Glasgow, Scotland. Jeff Whyte/Shutterstock

Most UK rivers are contaminated by a chemical called trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). This is a type of human-made chemical known as perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), often called “forever chemicals”.

This widespread contamination highlights the extensive scale of work required to remove synthetic forever chemicals from our environment.