The environment department is reviewing a report on water samples taken near Belco, which could determine whether emissions from the plant are considered harmful to human health.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said that it also had access to data from air-quality monitoring stations in the area.

It took charge of an investigation last April that was initiated by the Ministry of Health into the impact of soot and emissions from the North Power Station.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs, under which the DENR falls, said that preliminary data from water samples taken in October suggested there were no exceedances of “primary” drinking water standards in Bermuda and the US.

He did not reference results from air-quality monitoring.

The spokesman said: “DENR has access to data from air quality monitoring stations and water tanks, where the rain ultimately washes the soot that falls on to roofs.

“The Environmental Authority/DENR requires Belco, under their annual operating licence (OL-114, Condition 5.12.1), to use an independent, third-party consultant to perform water-quality analysis from residential water tanks in the vicinity of Belco.

“In October 2023, ten water tanks from eight residences and two schools were sampled to analyse combustion-related contaminants.

“DENR is reviewing the draft report prepared by Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, which collected the water samples and managed the chain of custody of these samples to a laboratory in the US.

“The provisional data analysis has highlighted that there were no exceedances of the primary drinking-water standards that are in effect in Bermuda and the US.

“The public will be provided with the full report in the coming months."

The plant burns heavy fuel oil in a residential area with several schools and businesses.

As a result of complications brought about by the station being optimised to burn on liquefied natural gas, a fuel that was never approved in Bermuda, and therefore having to burn HFO, Belco’s station has spewed soot on to nearby properties while high levels of sulphur dioxide and fume odours have been detected in the area.

The ministry said in December: “The investigation is ongoing. An outcome has yet to be determined. Since the Belco operating licence (OL-114), with associated revisions, was issued and accepted by Belco in June 2023, DENR has been collecting data on soot events to confirm whether the emissions are likely to be considered ‘detrimental to property’ as per condition 5.4.8 of the operating licence and Section 12(1)(v) of the Clean Air Act 1991.”

The Royal Gazette, which started its Clearing the Air investigation into Belco emissions in March, asked the ministry whether it was collecting data to determine whether the soot and emissions were also likely to be considered detrimental to human health as per conditions of the same Act.

Back in March, one in seven homes tested for the impact of Belco pollution was found to have water taste and clarity levels that breach international standards.

Walter Roban, the home affairs minister, said then that the environmental impact of emissions from the power plant remained “unacceptable”.

Mr Roban told MPs that an independent survey of 35 properties found that levels of aluminium and iron exceeded British secondary standards in five of them. He said the standards applied to “aesthetic qualities of water including clarity and taste”, and that the iron found probably originated from Belco.

The Bermuda Clean Air Coalition was launched in 2020 to campaign against pollution from the station that was commissioned the same year.

Areas surrounding the St John’s Road plant in Pembroke have experienced high levels of sulphur dioxide, which has far exceeded annual limits set in Britain and the EU. These limits are expected to apply to Bermuda once the Government amends the Clean Air Act, which it said in the Throne Speech it would do during this parliamentary session.

The air monitoring unit at the site vulnerable to down drafting of emissions was removed in June 2022 because the landowner did not want it there any more.

The Ministry of Home Affairs slashed the funding for its air-pollution monitoring programme in April 2022 to save $230,000.

It announced last October that it would be reintroduced in a contract starting last August. However, it said the programme would use six, non-regulatory grade air monitors owing to “budgetary constraints”.

The six stations, which come at a cost to the taxpayer of $215,034, will instead show where larger, regulatory-grade machines might be needed to assess for breaches of pollution regulations.

Belco has continued to self-monitor its emissions as it is obliged to do under the terms of its operating licence.