MOST Britons believe that water companies should be responsible for ensuring sewage sludge spread on farmland is not contaminated, according to new polling published today.

Sewage sludge is sold as a low-cost alternative to fertiliser, but water companies are not legally required to remove “forever chemicals,” microplastics or other modern pollutants.

Rules governing sludge treatment were written in the 1980s, before such contaminants existed, but it is now spread widely on farmland, from where pollutants can drain into rivers.

The survey by campaign group River Action found that 92 per cent of respondents believed water companies should have either a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of responsibility for ensuring sludge is not contaminated.

And 89 per cent said the government should be similarly responsible.

The findings came as a petition calling for an end to the spreading of contaminated sewage sludge, signed by almost 70,000 people, was handed into the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

River Action said its research also showed growing concern among farmers.

Nature Friendly Farming Network chief executive Martin Lines said farmers were “already under huge pressure from supply chains chasing ever-higher profit margins, while water companies are offering cut-price or even free sludge that turns out to be contaminated.

“Farmers should not be the ones carrying the blame for a problem they didn’t create.

“This is a mess for the water companies and government to fix, not the people producing our food.”

River Action said the government must act urgently to stop contaminated sludge being spread on farmland and support farmers to protect soil and rivers.

A Defra spokesperson said: “We are working with environmental groups, farmers, academics and the water industry to assess what is known about sludge contaminants, identify the biggest evidence gaps and drive future research priorities.”

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Co Durham farmer John Hall said: “Water companies expect farmers to pay for the privilege of taking their waste, insisting that sewage sludge is a ‘valuable fertiliser.’

“In any other sector, waste producers cover the cost of safe disposal.

“But when the ban on dumping sludge at sea came in, water authorities and the Environment Agency simply assumed farmers would pick up the tab and take this supposedly valuable product off their hands.”

A southern Scotland farmer, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Having used biosolids in the past, I became increasingly concerned that a natural by-product was becoming laced with household chemicals and industrial wastes, often described as forever chemicals because they break down so slowly in the soil.

“The ongoing accumulation of these substances will damage soil life, be absorbed by food crops and eventually enter the wider water environment.

“These materials are more harmful than other inputs applied to the soil.”