Southwold Water Trial

Therese Coffey is the MP for Suffolk Coastal Constituency.   Yesterday in Parliamment , she pressed the minister about PFA (performic acid)  water trial in Southwold Suffolk (her questions can be seen on Youtube)


Therese Coffey website says that on Thurs 14 March 2024:    "Therese pressed the minister for the successful trial of PFA (performic acid) in Southwold to be rolled out across the country to help clean up our waterways. She said: "If it's good enough for swimmers in the Seine during the Olympics, surely it's good enough to start using this treatment which is cheaper and could be deployed a lot further right across our country". In response, the Minister (MP Robbie Moore- Conservative, Keighly, W Yorks) said that he was having conversations within DEFRA and the Environment Agency about it and committed to meet Therese to talk about it further"

Performic acid is a mixture of formic acid and hydrogen peroxide. 

Observers may recall the Government press release back in  Jan 2022.  Greg Hall (Coastal catchment manager for Anglian Water ) said " We’re the first water company in the UK to trial PFA chemical disinfection. This is a more cost and carbon efficient form of disinfection compared to the traditional method of UV disinfection and completely safe for the environment."

Other reports

Planet radio - coverage similar to above

Aqua Enviro - reports that a performic acid generator installed at Southwold treatment works meant that targets were met. 

East Anglian Daily Times - Environment Agency has rejected use of performic acid in River Deben, Suffolk. 

DEFRA - bathing water quality at Southwold = excellent. 

Therese Coffey website - Covers the question in Parliament .