On eve of Earth Day weekend, Bluewater says discovery of chemicals in tap drinking water in Denmark points to declining tap water quality even in developed countries

Stockholm, Sweden, April 17, 2023 – Bluewater, a world leader in innovating water purification solutions, says news that hundreds of different chemicals had been found in a new study of Danish water works underlines consumer fears that tap quality can no longer be taken for granted. Bluewater’s comment came on the eve of Earth Day held every April 22, when millions of people in 192 countries around the world rally to celebrate the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

The study by researchers at the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with Danish water and wastewater company Novafos was published in the journal Environmental Pollution. The researchers tested water being processed at three separate Danish waterworks and found TCP, a toxic chlorinated substance used as an insecticide that can be carcinogenic, and melamine, which is used in the plastics industry and can damage the bladder and kidneys.

According to analytical chemist Selina Tisler, an assistant professor at the Copenhagen University Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, other compounds potentially harmful to health when in high-enough concentrations were also detected, including many other chemicals that no one knows the toxicity of such as benzothiazole, a compound used in car tires and on artificial turf pitches, that has shown high toxicity in cell tests and has apparently never been found in Danish groundwater.

The researchers emphasized that they only have indications of how large the concentrations of individual chemical compounds are and therefore no health risk can yet be established with regards to tap water consumption.

Bluewater communications director David Noble noted that the water tested from the Danish waterworks complied with all existing applicable regulations, “which indicates that consumers may well be drinking tap water that is potentially damaging their health and well-being.” He said Bluewater, which produces and sells under-sink reverse osmosis water purifiers able to remove chemicals such as PFAS, TCP, and melamine, believes more research is urgently required by national authorities “to identify exactly what chemicals are getting into our tap water and the health threats posed.”

The Danish study, led Jan H. Christensen, a professor at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, concluded broader monitoring was required as a major weakness in screening today is that public water agencies only require monitoring for a limited number of predetermined substances. The study’s authors said despite a massive focus on PFAS substances and pesticide residues in Danish drinking water, little attention is paid to the hundreds of other chemical compounds in groundwater.

For more information about the study:

Selina Tisler et al, Non-target screening of micropollutants and transformation products for assessing AOP-BAC treatment in groundwater, Environmental Pollution (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119758

Journal information: Environmental Pollution

For more information about Bluewater, please contact david.noble@bluewatergroup.com or call +44 7785 302694

About Bluewater

Bluewater set its sights on being the world’s most planet-friendly beverage company by innovating disruptive water purification technologies for home, work and play. Providing hydration solutions which are generated and distributed at point of use, combined with reusable stainless steel and glass bottles, allows Bluewater to break the stranglehold of single-use plastic bottles and their unnecessary, polluting transportation. Bluewater products are available to consumers, hotel and catering operations, and event and venue organizations in Europe, the USA, the UK, China, South-East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Bluewater has been honored with two Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards, a K&B Kitchen Innovation of the Year Award, and recognized for its sustainability efforts by numerous other publications. In 2022, Bluewater acquired the U.S. FloWater company, based in Denver, Colorado, whose advanced water dispensers are available throughout North America, helping businesses and schools avoid the use of single-use plastic bottles https://www.bluewatergroup.com