The consumption of tap water prohibited in 16 municipalities in the Grand-Est

Tap water consumption will be prohibited in the coming days in 12 municipalities in the Ardennes and four from the Meuse where abnormal PFAS rates, called “eternal pollutants”, have been noted.

The prohibition of drinking water and using it to prepare the bottles will come into force on July 10 in the 12 localities of the Ardennes, which have a total of 2,800 inhabitants, announced by the department’s prefecture in a press release published Friday July 4 and co-signed by the regional health agency of the Grand-Est. The same measure will apply on Saturday in the four municipalities of the Meuse, which total 620 inhabitants, according to a press release from the prefecture published Thursday evening. None of the two prefectures specifies the duration of this prohibition.

All the villages concerned in the Meuse are located on the leak course. The communes affected in the Ardennes are located in the south of the department, near the Meuse or one of its tributaries.

PFAS levels higher than the legal limit of 100 nanograms per liter (NG/L) were noted in distributed water. A law on eternal pollutants promulgated at the beginning of the year provides in particular to include PFAS in the health control of drinking water. The Ardennes prefecture recognizes that, in the municipalities of the affected department, “The total concentration of the 20 main PFASs exceeds, in a persistent and very important way, the regulatory limit”.

“We will pay the water 100 times more expensive”

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, holds the national contamination record, 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 Pilibiche.

PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances, can cause, among other things, an increase in cholesterol levels, cancers, fertility and development problems. 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.

In this case, “Pollution could be linked to spreading, on agricultural plots located near the catchments of drinking water, of paper sludge likely to contain PFAS”specifies the prefecture of the Meuse, according to which “This origin remains to be confirmed”. Richard Pilbiche also criticizes a stationery around the surroundings of having them “Buried whole heaps” On a land located above the source. The Prefecture of the Meuse requests the municipalities concerned and “People responsible for the production and distribution of water to ensure the distribution of bottles to the inhabitants”. For Villy, this represents an expense of 18,000 euros over a year. “We will pay the water 100 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 set up, 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.