The prefectural decree prohibiting consuming tap water comes into force, Thursday, July 10, for 12 municipalities in the Ardennes. The same measure has been applied since Saturday, July 5 in four municipalities in the Meuse. PFAS levels, said “Eternal pollutants”superior to the legal limit, of 100 nanograms per liter (NG/L), were noted in the water distributed. The duration of this ban, which concerns 2,800 inhabitants in total in the Ardennes, has not been specified.
A law on eternal pollutants promulgated at the beginning of the year provides for PFAS in the health control of drinking water. For the municipalities concerned-Villy, Malandry, Blagny, Linay, Haraucourt, Bayonville, Beffu-et-le-Morthomme, Landres-et-Saint-Georges, Thororgues, Imécourt, Verpel and the hamlet of Sivry-, the prefecture of the Ardennes recognized that “The total concentration of the 20 main PFASs exceeds, in a persistent and very important way, the regulatory limit”. These villages are located in the south of the department, near the Meuse or one of its tributaries.
According to France 3 and Disclosethe rates exceed three to 27 times the limit in 17 municipalities of the Meuse and the Ardennes. With 2,729 ng/l detected in February, Villy, in the Ardennes, presents the greatest number of contaminations at the national level, specifies Disclose. The source used in this village is so polluted that we “Can’t treat it, you cannot catch up with the rate”regrets its mayor, Richard Philbiche.
Two liters of drinking water per day
PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances, can in particular cause an increase in cholesterol levels, cancers, fertility problems or affecting the development of the fetus. Massively used in industry since the middle of the 20th century, for example to make non -stick stoves, waterproof clothes or cosmetics, they are, as their nickname suggests, extremely difficult to eliminate once in water or floors.
The municipalities concerned must provide two liters of drinking water per day to each inhabitant as long as running water remains unfit for consumption. For Villy, this represents an expense of 18,000 euros over a year. “We will pay the water a hundred times more expensive” that if it was captured at the source, assures the mayor. The Prefect of the Ardennes also invites the municipalities concerned “To put in place, as soon as possible, an action plan to satisfactorily reduce the rate of PFAS in the water and make water again in accordance with the standards in force”.
“We know that our pollution is at least twenty-five years old”says Annick Dufils, mayor of Malandry, near Villy, who denounces “A health scandal”. It expects the work to last more than a year and cost 500,000 to 900,000 euros. “We will go into debt over decades”she adds, regretting the lack of support from the public authorities.
