A few weeks ago, a Special Envoy broadcast revealed PFAS pollution around the industrial site of Pierre-Bénite, in the Rhône… As a result, the drinking water of many municipalities much further south is contaminated. More than 200,000 inhabitants are concerned… What is the extent of this pollution? What are the risks for the population?
Beware of sleeping water. That’s what the proverb says. Like the woman who runs under the Rhône, discreet and silent, and rarely talked about.
And yet, it supplies the taps of several hundred thousand inhabitants.
On the catchment field of Grigny, south of Lyon, water is pumped directly into the aquifer accompanying the Rhône. It can be seen at the bottom of one of the catchment wells. Clear, clear water. … “It comes from the river, it filters through the alluvium, and it is naturally drinkable, but obviously they don’t filter everything…”, regrets Bernard Chaverot, president of SIEMLY. “In any case, not the PFAS”…
video length: 04min 01
PFAS in drinking water
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©France Televisions
The PFAS, the president of this drinking water management and supply union, had never heard of it. And yet, they are present in the water of the Rhône. This was revealed by a Special Envoy investigation, released several weeks ago.
“We do everything to move forward on the subject, because we want to know, but without panicking everyone and keeping reason. Molecules of all kinds, there are everywhere, there are all the time, there are not only in the water, there are in the ground, there are in the air we breathe, in everything we eat, so we have to be very careful,”
explains Thierry Vanel, the elected official in charge of water quality at SIEMLY.
These indestructible molecules, also called PFAS or eternal pollutants, are still little known in France. And yet, they are highly appreciated by manufacturers for their non-stick, anti-inflammable, waterproof properties… Only a few companies manufacture these perfluorinated compounds. Arkema’s site in Pierre-Bénite, near Lyon, is one of them…
To the south of the platform, the quantities of PFAS analyzed in the river by the Special Envoy survey are surprisingly high. A pollution which is logically found in the water of the tablecloth, and then in the tap water.
Downstream of the plant, the catchment of Ternay, just opposite that of Grigny, is also affected. Between them, they serve a hundred municipalities and more than 220,000 inhabitants…
So is this water safe to drink? What are the risks ? While the public authorities have just confirmed the presence of these pollutants in the drinking water of several municipalities, residents and elected officials are asking many questions.
” What shall we do now ? “Asks Xavier Odo, the mayor of Grigny, who has just received confirmation of the results by an independent laboratory. The town halls do not have the competence in drinking water, it is therefore obliged to rely on the State.
“There are residents who will ask me the question… We have to reassure them, we have to tell them what the risk is, if there is a risk, at what level it is acceptable or not acceptable, and above all, what are we going to do to correct this? »,
Because in the drinking water of the municipalities concerned, there are 110 to 240 ng of PFAS per litre. Measurements which are all above the future European standard, of 100 ng/L, which will be applicable in France from 2026.
However, the prefecture ensures that the water remains completely drinkable. But for Sebastien Sauve, professor of environmental chemistry at the University of Montreal, these measurements remain abnormally high. He is the author of numerous studies on these molecules. “It’s amazing that this is a journalist who identifies a problem in drinking water that is so exceptional, and that beats everything we have been able to analyze in other sites, around the world”.
Sébastien Sauvé has studied more than a hundred samples from all over the world. When asked if the inhabitants of the Rhône concerned should continue to drink this water, the scientist is annoyed. “I don’t like being asked this question, obviously because of the ecological impact that the alternative, ie the consumption of bottled water, can have…”.
Today, there is no scientifically established toxicity threshold, from which the consumption of PFAS could be considered dangerous for health. But the risks are increasingly documented and the list of health effects grows longer each time: cancer of the testicles and kidney, liver dysfunction, reduction in hormone levels and weakening of the immune system.
“PFAS are not toxic in an acute and immediate impact, so higher exposure than what is on the chronic for a few days, for once or twice a year is fine, but when it’s been several years, and that ‘there are no deadlines to solve the problem, the authorities should take the necessary measures’,
adds Professor Sauvé.
Necessary and urgent measures… But were the public authorities aware of this pollution? Marc Babut is one of the very first scientists to have sounded the alarm. At the time, he was looking for PCBs in the Rhône… He also found PFAS there. And immediately informs the public authorities in a report. That was ten years ago… “We noticed a strong anomaly on the Rhône, it was obvious, and it is perhaps even worse than PCBs, because these are still compounds more persistent, so it must be a real concern…”, explains the researcher who regrets the absence of reaction from the State at the time.
Like many scientists, he is a signatory to international petitions calling for the immediate banning of these compounds.
“We should stop producing and above all using PFAS whenever possible, there are certain uses that we will have trouble doing without, such as protective clothing for firefighters, or in the medical field, but otherwise substitutes must be used. Now, and not in ten years”.
If the pollution denounced in Rhône is much lower than that of Ohio, in the United States, in what has been called the Teflon scandal, it nevertheless remains high… And elected officials are asking the public authorities to act quickly and to launch a large-scale epidemiological study to find out the real health risks.