Government of Jersey

Jersey Water - Water Quality Report 2022 (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 09 June 2023.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

In its 2022 Water Quality Report, pages 6 to 7, in connection with discussing removing PFAS from our tap water, Jersey Water talk about their Production and Technical team working with a "leading remediation specialist".

Who is this "leading remediation specialist"?

What has this specialist so far achieved?

What is their specific brief?

The report also mentions a "Government of Jersey Technical Officer Group" working "to develop a robust solution to meet the anticipated introduction of a standard of the PFAS regulatory standard for drinking water."

What does the last quoted sentence mean?

On my assumed understanding, that Gov / Jersey Water are acknowledging that the regulatory standard for how much PFAS is acceptable in our water will soon be REDUCED, what specific work has been done on developing the "robust solution" that they talk about?

When will this solution be ready?

Which specific individuals are on the "Government of Jersey Technical Officer Group"?

What other panels do these individuals also sit on, in connection with water standards?

Response

A to F

The 2022 Water Quality Report was published by Jersey Water and the Government of Jersey does not hold any information regarding the items referred to in questions A to F. Article 10 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

You may wish to contact Jersey Water to request this information using the details included at the end of the response.

It should be noted that Jersey Water is not a Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, therefore, they are not required to respond under the Law.

The table below provides details of the members within the Government of Jersey Technical Officer Group.

Members of the Government of Jersey Technical Officer Group
Job Title	Representing	Name
Head of Land Resource Management section	Government of Jersey – Infrastructure and Environment department	Dr Tim du Feu
Environment Manager – Natural Environment's Water and Air team	Government of Jersey – Infrastructure and Environment department	Withheld
Senior Environment Officer – Natural Environment's Water and Air team	Government of Jersey – Infrastructure and Environment department	Withheld
Food and Public Health Manager – Environmental and Consumer Protection	Government of Jersey – Infrastructure and Environment department	Withheld
Head of Communications for Infrastructure and Environment department	Government of Jersey – Cabernet Office	Tim Prior
Deputy Director	Government of Jersey - Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance department	Withheld
Official Analyst	Government of Jersey - Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance department	Withheld
Water Quality Manger	Jersey Water	Withheld

It should be noted that the names of the following groups have been withheld from release.

Government of Jersey employees below Tier 1 and Tier 2
Parties not employed by the Government of Jersey

Government of Jersey employees below Tier 1 and Tier 2 are protected from identification for the purposes of Freedom of Information disclosure, and therefore, Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Article 25 has also been applied to the parties not employed by the Government of Jersey.

A few of the members of the Government of Jersey Technical Officer Group are also part of Jersey Water’s Action for Cleaner Water Group as detailed in the following Freedom of Information response:

Jersey Water - Action for Cleaner Water Group (FOI)

Articles applied

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding Information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly.

(2) If a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority and –

(a) the information is absolutely exempt information or qualified exempt information; or

(b) if the authority does not hold the information, the information would be absolutely exempt

information or qualified exempt information if it had held it, the authority may refuse to inform the applicant whether or not it holds the information if it is satisfied that, in all the circumstances of the case, it is in the public interest to do so.

(3) If a scheduled public authority so refuses –

(a) it shall be taken for the purpose of this Law to have refused to supply the information requested on the ground that it is absolutely exempt information; and

(b) it need not inform the applicant of the specific ground upon which it is refusing the request or, if the authority does not hold the information, the specific ground upon which it would have refused the request had it held the information.

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Jersey Water

You may wish to send your request in writing to:

Jersey Water, St Helier, Jersey, JE1 1JW.