Yvelines firefighters battled for nearly seven hours this Saturday to stem pollution of the Seine, reported late in the morning near Triel-sur-Seine, 25 km northwest of Paris. Around 10:45 a.m., expanded polystyrene balls belonging to the interdepartmental union for the sanitation of the Paris metropolitan area (SIAAP), in Achères, spilled into the river.
Pollution, concentrated in Triel, was also observed in Mureaux and as far as Gargenville, around fifteen kilometers further. The fire brigade decontamination cell, attached to the technological risks unit, was deployed. To recover the logs which were floating on the surface of the water, it was necessary to install a dam about thirty meters long. The device was lifted around 6 p.m.
“The flow is under control and the majority of the logs have been recovered,” said the Yvelines prefecture this Saturday evening. But part of the pollution has drifted towards the banks: it will be up to SIAAP to recover the residue. »
Balls precisely used… to clean up the river
Ironically, these expanded polystyrene balls are precisely used… for filtering water, in other words to clean up the river. The reasons why they escaped from the factory “will have to be determined by the investigation”, further specifies the prefecture, which did not have, at this stage, information concerning the quantity of fugitive beads.
“We discovered this spread with dismay,” comments the mayor (without label) of Triel-sur-Seine, Cédric Aoun. Our teams were mobilized tirelessly to manage this situation and the Yvelines firefighters worked all day to clean up. The operation is complete, but that is not enough. »
-The chosen one does not mince his words. “I want to be clear,” he said. These repeated incidents linked to factories near the Seine are unacceptable and reinforce our determination to limit any expansion or construction of new industrial facilities. We will not tolerate our environment being compromised. »
Cédric Aoun promises to “ensure that SIAAP takes all necessary measures to effectively clean the banks of the Seine and prevent such incidents from recurring in the future”.
In July 2019, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a gigantic fire in a building of the SIAAP wastewater treatment plant, classified Seveso, had disastrous consequences on its ability to properly treat wastewater. And, consequently, on the pollution of the Seine, leading to the death of thousands of fish.
