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[EN VIDÉO] Interview 2/5: water pollution is very diverse Water is a commodity that we consume daily. It is essential to our survival, but its quality is uneven in its natural state. Philippe Hubert, director of chronic risks at Ineris, tells us about the pollutants that can be carried by water.
A planetary boundarythis is a threshold that we should not exceed if we do not want to compromise the sustainability of our living conditions. Scientists have defined nine. And at the beginning of the year 2022, they announced to us that that concerning chemical pollution had just been crossed.
But, today, Stockholm University researchers (Sweden) draw attention to a particular class of chemical products. Those known as PFAS – perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyls, for chemists. There are almost 5,000 different ones. And they are widely used for the manufacture of everyday products: textiles, packaging, cosmetics, phytosanitary products, etc. Trouble is, they’re both toxic – they cause cancerscomplication of pregnancy or failure of the immune system – and extremely persistent in the environment. Scientists even talk about chemicals “eternal”. That is to say…
Polluter pays
Researchers from the University of Stockholm point out that despite the efforts of certain manufacturers to eliminate PFAS from their products for twenty years already, their concentration in the atmosphere is not decreasing. Because they are “eternal” and because they are constantly brought back to it, carried as they are by the water cycle. A particular difficulty which arises with these chemicals precisely and which encourages researchers in the idea of defining a planetary limit which would be specific to them. A limit already crossed.
Because the researchers note that over the years, the tolerated values for the presence of PFAS in water, in particular, have decreased according to the knowledge acquired concerning their toxicity. Result today, rainwater, everywhere in the world, is considered unfit for consumption. However, there are certain regions where rainwater is consumed by the population. Others where it serves as a source of drinking water.
Bringing PFAS levels down to safe levels will be expensive. “Manufacturers who benefit economically from these products while polluting the water millions of people will have to pay. It’s time to act “conclude the researchers.
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