Is tap water contaminated too often? a survey of World and another from France 2 magazine “Complément d’Enquête” evokes an overcoming of quality standards in many municipalities, with the presence of numerous pesticide residues. The two media also denounce dysfunctions in monitoring the quality of the drinking water network.
According to the daily evening survey, whose conclusions are close to those of France Télévisions, this contamination would be particularly widespread: some 12 million French men and women in mainland France would have been exposed in 2021 to tap water considered non-compliant. quality criteria, that is, 20% of the French.
• What waste was found?
This result represents a clear increase compared to 2020. That year, exposure to non-compliant tap water affected less than 6% of the French population. This increase is explained in particular by the search for a greater number of substances, some of which metabolites that were not previously monitored, specifies The world.
The metabolites are Molecules resulting from the degradation of pesticides.. In short: when they diffuse into the environment, pesticides break down and recombine. Each plant protection product can thus generate several new molecules. Some examples: glyphosate degrades to Ampa and chloridazone to desphenyl chloridazone.
Among these descendants of the most frequent pesticides: ESA-metolachlor, a metabolite of S-metolachlor, herbicide used in the cultivation of corn, sunflower or sorghum. Thus, some 6,550 exceedances of the quality threshold were identified for this substance between January 2021 and July 2022, France Info says.
Prohibited pesticide metabolites have also been found, the two surveys note. Like atrazine, a herbicide banned for twenty years.
• Which regions are the most affected?
Some regions seem more particularly affected, says The world. Like Hauts-de-France, where 65% of the population was affected, on a regular or occasional basis, by non-compliance with drinking water in 2021, Brittany (43%), Grand-Est (25.5%) and Pays de la Loire (25%).
But within the same region, the situation can vary greatly from one department to another. This is the case of Occitania, which has a relatively low default rate (5.1%), but one of its departments, Gers, is nonetheless one of the most affected (71%).
However, it should be noted that the number of molecules searched for varies greatly depending on the region, and the list is defined locally according to various criteria, such as the most widely used plant protection products in the region or population density, notes France Télévisions. But this leads to wide disparities in the analyses: 24 pesticide molecules sought on average per sample in Haute-Corse, compared to 477 in Hauts-de-Seine.
• What are the health risks?
Are these residues dangerous for health? Hard to know. The water quality limit is generally set at 0.1 micrograms per liter for these residues. But this threshold “is not a health standard”, insists Benoit Vallet, director general of the Hauts-de-France Regional Health Agency, with the World. “The only health standard is ‘Vmax,’ which indicates a concentration in water that is likely to trigger health problems.”
Except that few studies have been carried out – when they are not fragmented – on certain metabolites, the newspaper insists. However, they are necessary to establish this famous “Vmax”: according to data from the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (Anses), cited by France Télévisions, there are 23 pesticides or metabolites for which the authorities have not defined a maximum health value
“In the absence of TRV (toxicological reference values, editor’s note) it may happen that the ANSES is not able to provide Vmax”, acknowledges the ANSES on its site.
The world cites, for example, the case of two metabolites of chloridazone, a herbicide used until 2020 in sugar beet fields, for which many non-confirmations have been observed but the Vmax has not been calculated. Provisional values have since been established.
Therefore, many of these molecules and their long-term effects remain unknown. And “the long-term health effects of exposure to low doses of pesticides are difficult to assess,” admits the Ministry of Health.
• How are the authorities reacting?
Michel Laforcade, former director general of ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine, now retired, considers this for The world that the health authorities have “failed” on this issue. “One day we will have to give an account,” she denounces. “It may not be on the same scale as the tainted blood case, but it could become the next public health scandal.”
In the case of waste for which there is no maximum health value, the General Directorate of Health (DGS) recommended in December 2020 “to restrict the use of water” as soon as the quality threshold is exceeded, at 0.1 micrograms per liter , notes “Fully investigated”, but this precautionary principle is far from being applied in all the municipalities involved, insists France Télévisions.
In December 2021, the DGS contacted the Superior Council of Public Health (HCSP) “to obtain support related to the management of health risks related to the presence of pesticides and pesticide metabolites in water intended for human consumption. “.
The HCSP considered instead that “an active and urgent policy must be implemented to reduce the contamination of resources by pesticides.”
The world indicates that the DGS rejected your maintenance requests. However, his boss, Jérôme Salomon, is due to speak this Thursday night on the “Complément d’Enquête” program.
Source: BFM TV
