The Métropole de Lyon, Eau publique du Grand Lyon and the Syndicat Rhône Sud are implementing the first phase of the emergency action plan in order to fight against “eternal pollutants”.
In its fight against PAFS, these “eternal pollutants”, the Métropole de Lyon, with Eau publique du Grand Lyon and the Syndicat Rhône Sud, announces in a press release the implementation of the first phase of its action plan, consisting of to interconnect drinking water networks. The Metropolis judges this first action as “decisive for the future”. As a reminder, in 2023 following controls on PFAS, levels above 0.10 μg/liter were observed in four municipalities in the Lyon metropolitan area: Givors, Solaize, Grigny and Marcy l’Etoile, impacting nearly 37 000 users.
This interconnection should allow, according to the Metropolis, “to provide 2,000 m3/day to the Rhône Sud union. Thanks to this system, the water distributed to the 60,000 residents concerned in western Lyon, including Marcy-l’Étoile for the Lyon Metropolis, now complies with the regulatory thresholds.
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Two companies in court
The Métropole de Lyon, Eau Publique du Grand Lyon and the Syndicat Rhône-Sud recall, in this press release, having “summoned Arkema and Daikin before the Lyon judicial court in the name of the polluter pays principle”believing that “the responsibility of the industrialists at the origin of these massive releases of PFAS for decades must be established”. The hearing phase began at the judicial court on April 9, with the deliberations expected to be delivered this summer.
Read also: PFAS: groups seize the administrative court against the extension of Daikin
Next steps in the action plan
With the completion of this first phase, it is now possible to start the two other phases which will extend over 2025 and 2026, namely work to filter the water collected from the Rhône-Sud plant and new long-term interconnections. .
In total, according to the Metropolis, the financial cost of this action plan is estimated at “five million euros for the next two years. Then come the operating costs, estimated at 300,000 euros per year from 2024 to 2026, then 600,000 euros per year from 2026”.
Read also: Extension of Daikin to the south of Lyon: no “discharge of PFAS into water” assures the Rhône prefecture
