🚨EXCLUSIVE 🚨. After obtaining reams of internal docs, I have a new story out revealing how govt has sat on plans to tighten rules letting water companies SELL sewage sludge fertiliser contaminated with PFAS & microplastics. Read it in @guardian, and.

RT @TessColley: 22 tonnes of microplastics are dumped on farms PER DAY via sewage sludge, my latest investigation has revealed. Emails & d….

RT @TessColley: 🚨EXCLUSIVE 🚨. After obtaining reams of internal docs, I have a new story out revealing how govt has sat on plans to tighten….

RT @TessColley: This includes staff at the regulator warning 3 years ago that practically all microplastics entering sewage treatment works….

RT @TessColley: These docs have revealed the extent to which the EA has sought to persuade the government to implement its plans to tighten….

RT @TessColley: Last year, lawyers representing @FightDirtyOrg took the EA to court over whether its decision to remove a deadline for refo….

RT @TessColley: Read my full investigation @TheENDSReport for details on:.❗️The 22 tonnes of microplastics dumped on farms per day via slud….

RT @TheENDSReport: Huge news ⚠️. The government has sat on plans to tighten sewage sludge rules for 3 YEARS despite the EA warning of serio….

Read my full investigation @TheENDSReport for:. ⁉️ What went on between civil servants, special advisors, & EA staff to mean warnings on sludge have been ignored - I've got the receipts.🇺🇸 Why closure of sludge-impacted US farms should make the UK sit up.

This follows @RachSalv of @WATERSHED_i story where a water industry insider described sludge as "a Trojan horse" with toxic contaminants (PFAS, microplastics etc) threatening "the long-term sustainability of humanity’s farmland".

22 tonnes of microplastics are dumped on farms PER DAY via sewage sludge, my latest investigation has revealed. Emails & docs I obtained through FOI have exposed how this & other alarming warnings from the EA have been sat on for years. Read the story 👇.

RT @WATERSHED_i: For years, the Environment Agency advised ministers sewage sludge could be spreading toxic waste & microplastics over farm….

Read the story to see what the water industry and government had to say in response - and let me know what you think.

.@LinesMartin, farmer & CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, was shocked by the levels of microplastics headed to fields via sludge. He said “all farming stakeholder bodies should be championing traceability and sustainable soil health".

Never one to mince his words, George Monbiot, co-founder of @FightDirtyOrg, said "farmers are being deceived by the water companies - they’re being misled, and this could have very serious implications for their future livelihood".

.@RSBenwell, CEO of nature group @WCL_News, said “inaction from the previous government, in the face of advice from the EA on the need for tighter rules, is completely unacceptable” & that the current government must "swiftly bring in new regulation".

Last year I revealed how sludge has been sold to UK farmers by water companies containing a banned ‘forever chemical’ - a suspected carcinogen - at levels in excess of those considered safe in emerging science because of potential for crop uptake.

This matters for lots of reasons, eg this pollution potentially being taken up by crops. But also for farmers. In the US, some have been put out of business because of the levels of contamination found on their land - & in their bodies - linked to sludge.

This includes staff at the regulator warning 3 years ago that practically all microplastics entering sewage treatment works end up in sludge bound for farmland. My investigation has revealed that this is estimated to be 22 TONNES of microplastics per day.

These docs have revealed the extent to which the EA has sought to persuade the government to implement its plans to tighten the regulatory net on sludge, including eye-watering evidence of the risk of not doing so - and how the agency was ignored.

Last year, lawyers representing @FightDirtyOrg took the EA to court over whether its decision to remove a deadline for reforming sludge regulations was unlawful. The group lost its case - but via FOI I got hold of the docs submitted by the EA.