A collective complaint will be filed in the Haut-Rhin to exceed the PFAS rate in tap water. The problem would date from 2023, at least, but “nothing has been done”.
In the Haut-Rhin, eleven municipalities bringing together 60,000 inhabitants are subject to restrictions on the prefecture concerning their tap water consumption since May 5. In question, the presence of eternal pollutants, the PFAS, in this water and at a rate too high for at least 2023. This is why, more than 400 inhabitants have taken the initiative to court Saint-Louis Agglomeration and its delegate of public service, Veolia, through a collective complaint, reveals this Thursday, July 31, here Alsace.
This complaint is largely supported by a Mulhouse lawyer and should be filed with the public prosecutor for “endangering the life of others”, “distribution of a product harmful to health” and “environmental offenses”. The PFAS exceeds up to four times the standards in force, set at 0.1 microgram per liter. Problem, a letter from the Regional Health Agency was sent to the president of Saint-Louis Agglomeration in 2023 to alert. Despite this, “nothing was done, no information,” deplores Me André Chamy. Up to 0.3 microgram per liter has been noted, three times the authorized limit.
A letter was also transmitted to the inhabitants to alert them in 2024. This time, the PFAS concentrations were sometimes four times higher than the standards. No correction is made, and this high level is not communicated to the residents concerned. “They conducted studies, but without any information for the population,” said the lawyer at the Mulhouse bar.
A “criminal to the population” act
The situation decanted last summer, under the leadership of the prefecture. “Without the intervention of the prefect, nothing would have been done”, plague the lawyer. “We would have dragged for months, that’s what I find criminal about the population, we poisoned it,” he said, in the columns from here Alsace. The latter intends to “search for managers” and “translate them to the competent court”. The complaint in question also asks Veolia to reimburse the contaminated water bills to the PFAS regulated by the inhabitants, for at least two years.
In fact, the European directive according to which PFAS levels in drinking water networks must not exceed 0.1 microgram per liter will come into force on January 12, 2026. This is why, Saint-Louis Agglomeration is not late. On the other hand, what the lawyer who carries the complaint blames him is just not having informed the inhabitants. “It is still necessary that they give us the information (…) If Saint-Louis agglomeration does not say that water exceeds the legal limits, there is a problem in terms of information to the knowledge of the public,” he explains.