elected officials from Charente-Maritime helpless in the face of contamination of drinking water by pesticides

Pesticide residues have been found in drinking water in Charente-Maritime. In mid-December, the department contacted the State to find out what actions to take, and with what funding.

Elected officials are visibly distraught about the effects of pesticides in France. A parliamentary inquiry report denounced Thursday 21 December the lack of effectiveness of public policies on the subject.

The department of Charente-Maritime also adopted, Friday 15 December, a motion to request more clarity on the actions to be taken in the face of drinking water contamination. Several catchments have also been closed in this department because of pesticides. And today there is the fear that this type of pollution is only just beginning.

This motion is a first. It was drawn up by the Charente-Maritime water union, after the discovery this summer of a fungicide residue in just over twenty water catchments. Until now, this metabolite was not detected in water.

We have to deal with a new form of pollution, according to Christophe Sueur, president of the Eau17 union. “It triggered a wake-up call regarding this head of iceberg. We’re trying to be responsible for all of that and that’s where I’m embarrassed, because all of a sudden, we’re being given alerts about molecules whereas this had never been done in the last 50 years. But be careful of these molecules which tend to be mutagenic, which exist over time and which we may not be able to remove”he explains.

Up to 1 billion euros per year to filter water in France

The water union’s motion was also adopted by the departmental council. Elected officials have the feeling that the State has left them alone on the front line on this subject. They wonder about dangerousness thresholds and treatment costs. “It’s something that’s not going to disappear overnight, estimates Françoise de Roffignac, vice-president of the Department in charge of water and the environment. The questions we therefore ask the State in this motion are: What should we do?”she asks.

“How should we do it, knowing that there is a cost and that this cost will be borne by the population at one time or another? Who finances, how and for what ?”

Françoise de Roffignac

at franceinfo

There are probably other pesticide residues in the water. Despite everything, it is not possible to make a radical conversion of the agricultural world, according to the boss of the FDSEA of Charente-Maritime, Cédric Tranquard : “Are the products that are used everywhere today going to be transformed in the same way tomorrow, in 20 years, in 50 years ? Today, we don’t know. I would tell you that we have to stop everything, on the other hand, on the other hand, we need a financial plan but that is not possible”.

Water treatment to filter these residues across the country will cost 500 million to 1 billion euros per year according to the parliamentary commission of inquiry.