In a press release on Wednesday 10 July, the environmental NGO PAN Europe revealed that out of 55 samples of drinking water (mineral water and tap water) from 11 Member States, 94% contained trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a forever chemical. PAN Europe believes that only a ban on PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances) pesticides and fluorinated gases could solve this situation.
“The good news”, moderates Helmut Burtscher-Schaden, from Global 2000, “is that, in almost all samples, the TFA levels we found appear to be still within what is considered safe limits according to current knowledge”. However, he points out that TFA inputs are increasing and that other PFAS should not be forgotten. Measures must be taken to limit TFA contamination.
PAN Europe points out that there is currently no legal limit for TFA levels in surface water, groundwater or drinking water. The limit of 500 ng of PFAS per litre of drinking water is expected to come into force 2026.
TFAs will be included in this limit, but they have not been taken into account by the Commission when calculating the thresholds. The result: more than half the tap water tested already exceeded the limit.
Sara Johansson, policy officer for water pollution prevention at the NGO European Environmental Bureau (EEB), hopes that “the update of water pollution standards regulated under the Water Framework Directive” will change the situation. In her view, the European institutions “owe this to their citizens”. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)