Once again, the NGO Générations futures is sounding the alarm. New results of analyzes carried out on samples of tap water in thirteen municipalities located on the banks of the Gardon have revealed the presence, in the water, of trifluoroacetic acid, also called TFA.
A member of the large family of PFAS, also known as “eternal pollutants”, TFA is suspected of being an endocrine disruptor which disrupts the hormonal system and is a probable carcinogen. Among the waters analyzed, those of Vézénobres, Collias, Fournès and even Beaucaire are contaminated. More than 70 kilometers upstream, the Solvay factory releases PFAS for its chemical production.
Analyzes requested urgently
For Michel Tachon, member of the Générations Futures relay in Gard Rhone, these revelations are “ worrying for the future ». « Very few studies have been done on TFA. But a priori, consuming it every day in water is dangerous for your health. Générations futures calls for toxicity studies to be initiated as quickly as possible in order to determine the impact on human health and the environment. » Indeed, currently TFA is not one of the PFAS sought during analyzes of drinking water carried out by the regional health agency, ARS Occitanie.
« The big problem with this type of pollutant is that we can still find their traces a few decades later. », alerts Michel Tachon. Générations futures filed a complaint against Solvay for environmental damage.
It is in Boucoiran and Nozières as well as in Moussac that the TFA content is the highest, with respectively 19 and 18 micrograms per liter (µg/l) of water analyzed. There is currently no threshold above which water is declared unfit for consumption, but Générations futures hopes to raise awareness thanks to its latest analyses. “ In the Netherlands, health authorities have proposed an indicative value for TFA in drinking water at 2.2 µg/l, a value which is largely exceeded in 10 municipalities out of the 13 that we studied », underlines François Veillerette, the spokesperson for Générations futures in his report.
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