The first results of the monitoring campaign for aqueous discharges of PFAS made it possible to detect pollution on around fifty industrial sites in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, according to reports published Thursday by the environmental authorities. These first checks cover 135 of the 600 sites targeted in the region as part of a national action plan launched in 2023.
“At this stage, for nearly 40% of these first targeted sites,
PFAS have been detected in discharges into water
, at quantities which are nevertheless heterogeneous and much lower than the discharges which are regulated and being reduced for the Arkema platform. of Pierre-Bénite”
, notes the regional prefecture in a press release.
“Unsurprising”
results
for the services of the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL), which have not noted an alert situation comparable to that of Pierre-Bénite. This
“intermediate surveillance photograph”
will be completed before the end of the year.
At the national level, nearly 5,000 sites (operators of installations classified for environmental protection, or ICPE, falling under the authorization regime) are targeted because they are
“potentially the most concerned”
by PFAS discharges. , particularly in the fields of chemistry, textile manufacturing, waste treatment and even stationery.
20 substances required to be analyzed
In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, a pilot region for PFAS monitoring, the site of the chemist Arkema in Oullins-Pierre-Bénite (Rhône), in the
“chemistry valley”
south of Lyon, stands out with good levels. superior to other sites.
The industrialist and its neighbor Daikin, which produce fluoropolymers and as such handle PFAS, have been under surveillance since a series of journalistic investigations which, in 2022, revealed the extent of contamination with eternal pollutants in the area. .
In 2022, the prefecture ordered Arkema to stop using PFAS by the end of 2024, with a timetable for reducing its discharges into waters in stages. The manufacturer has since installed a filtration station which has significantly reduced these emissions ahead of schedule. At the end of the analyses, for establishments concentrating the
“flows”
of PFAS, actions will be taken on a case-by-case basis, specify the DREAL services: strengthening of surveillance, identification of the origin of the PFAS found, reduction or reduction measures. deletion.
There are, for the most part, no regulatory standards for industrial discharges for PFAS, a family which includes thousands of molecules present in many everyday objects (waterproof clothing, cosmetics, packaging, etc.) .
In the event of exposure over a long period, these so-called eternal pollutants can have effects on fertility and fetal development, increase the risk of obesity or promote certain cancers (prostate, kidney and testicles), according to scientific studies. .