A former government environmental protection officer has poured scorn on proposed water quality standards.

Dr Calum MacNeil believes environmental quality standards (EQS) being recommended for our bathing and non-bathing waters could lead to the island breaking international law - and conflict with our UNESCO Biosphere status.

He has also raised concerns over the safe storage of silt from Peel marina, claiming it contains toxic chemicals that are potentially damaging to the environment.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Agriculture is currently consulting on introducing EQS regulations to protect Manx rivers, streams, lakes and coastal waters from pollutants.

That consultation will end in October. Tynwald will then be asked to approve Manx specific discharge standards by December this year.

This follows advice from consultants APEM Ltd, a European independent environmental consultancy specialising in freshwater and marine ecology.

But Dr MacNeil, who was a freshwater biologist and environmental protection officer with the DEFA until September 2017, has serious concerns about the planned EQS recommended for highly toxic man-made compounds called PCBs.

PCBs are banned and their deliberate release into the environment is outlawed at any concentration.

But the APEM report on bathing water quality recommends an EQS for these substances of 15ng/litre.

Dr MacNeil, who has raised his concerns with UNESCO, said: ’The current EQS standards have been developed through years of research to set limits to protect both the environment and public health. There is no EQS for banned substances such as PCBs, as a limit can’t be set low enough for scientists to agree it isn’t causing long-term damage.

’Deliberate discharge or release to the environment in Europe and North America is completely illegal and banned.

’As far as I am aware this is the only proposed EQS value for deliberate discharges for PCBs to rivers anywhere in the world and all of this is happening in a UNESCO Biosphere.

’It seems both legally and morally perverse to attempt to bring in Manx legislation which offers a lower form of public health and environmental protection than already exists.’

PCBs - polychlorinated biphenyls - are banned because they persist in the environment for decades, bioaccumulate in mammals and biomagnify up the food chain.

They cause birth defects in mammals even at extremely low concentrations and are thought to be highly carcinogenic.

Dr MacNeil claims dredged silt from Peel marina contains PCBs and other potentially toxic chemicals called PCHs.

Silt dredged from the marina in 2015 is stored in what was supposed to be a temporary site at Rockmount on the outskirts of Peel.

The DoI has now lodged a planning application to keep it there.

Silt from the dredging operation this year was removed to a dewatering lagoon built behind Peel power station.

Dr MacNeil said questions need to be asked about whether the stored silt is held securely and for this to be regularly monitored.

He said: ’If the integrity of the pit or lagoons is not intact then the contaminants will leach out into the groundwater and surrounding countryside.’

He points out our water quality licensing should already be abiding by international agreements and international law.

In a statement, the Isle of Man Government said: ’The DEFA is currently proposing environmental quality standards to be approved by Tynwald, which on advice from consultants APEM Ltd include for PCBs in sediment and biota, such as fish, shellfish and crustaceans, in line with European and UK best practice.’

It said the UK Environment Agency’s guidance on monitoring of landfill leachate, groundwater and surface water provides an example of a minimum reporting value for PCBs of 500ng/litre.

DEFA is recommending a higher standard EQS for PCBs of 15ng/litre in water based on this being the currently achievable minimum reporting value for landfill leachate in UK laboratories, it said.

This is a higher standard than was routinely achievable by laboratories and is currently considered as compliant with UK and international standards.

The government said the purpose of the proposed environmental quality standards is to protect Isle of Man controlled waters from harm and to comply with its obligations under community treaties and international law.

By complying with UK guidance, the Isle of Man is also meeting the same international obligations as the UK, it added.

Responding to the concerns about the storage of silt, the government said: ’The de-watering lagoon for Peel marina silt is subject to a discharge licence which requires compliance with appropriate environmental quality standards and for which compliance monitoring is undertaken including using continuous sampling sensors.’