“We were warned by you”: France did not tell Belgium that two tonnes of latex had been dumped in the Meuse

Latex was accidentally released by a French company into the Meuse. The French authorities did not warn their Belgian counterparts.

The Meuse was accidentally polluted by a French company. Following a technical accident, two tonnes of latex spilled into the river, giving it a milky white color.

There is no way to recover this latex, which will therefore flow with the current. Problem is, if this pollution does not present a danger to humans, it is toxic for certain fish. The police headquarters therefore decided to prohibit the consumption of fish caught in the Meuse between the municipalities of Mouzon and Givet, which are located right next to Belgium.

Now, this pollution is arriving here, but the Belgian authorities were not warned by their French counterparts. However, there are measures for this type of situation.

We are still waiting for specific elements from the French

Today, the Belgian authorities apply the same recommendations not to consume fish from the river.

“It's an accident. 2 tonnes of liquid latex which were accidentally spilled by an automobile company in the Meuse around Mouzon. It's a bird's flight 70 km from the Belgian border but the Meuse meanders enormously in this tip of the Ardennes It has 160 km to travel before arriving in Belgium and according to our calculations the pollution is currently crossing the border, but we are in significant dilution. So, from a health point of view. public, we are quite reassuring”, indicates Nicolas Yernaux, spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia (SPW).

“We are still waiting for specific elements from the French. We are not so much dealing with a public health problem, but we are dealing with a real procedural problem. We have not been warned as provided for by the international Meuse commission It is the prefecture which must warn SOS Pollution in our area, and they did not do so. They warned Vivaqua, but Vivaqua is only a water distribution manager. and particularly the public authorities, particularly for the management of pollution, the warning of the emergency services, who must also be warned. We have already had incidents of this kind in the past, so it is more than regrettable, it is. quite deplorable that once again the prefecture did not properly warn us.”

And to conclude: “We were warned by you, by the media, so it’s really extremely damaging because in terms of risk management there are a whole series of things that we can put in place.”

Meuse pollution Belgium France latex