'Forever chemicals' widespread in European waters: report
Media Agence France-Presse
Date Wednesday 18 December 2024
Water pollution in Europe by long-lasting agents exceeds the thresholds set to avoid potential risks to health and the environment, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has warned.
Translate
spinner.loading
spinner.loading
"Tenemos un problema con los PFOS (ácido perfluorooctanosulfónico, prohibido en Europa desde 2019), que es tanto persistente como omnipresente", resumió Nadia Cerioli, experta de la AEMA.
Entre 2018 y 2022, en los sitios donde se disponía de datos, entre el 51% y el 60% de los ríos, el 11% y el 35% de los lagos y el 47% y el 100% de las aguas costeras superaron los estándares de calidad ambiental para los PFOS, detalla el informe coescrito por Cerioli.
Este primer informe sobre el estado del agua en Europa recopila datos sobre las concentraciones medidas de PFOS, clasificados como "posiblemente cancerígeno" por la OMS.
Las cifras aportadas por la AEMA solo ofrecen una visión parcial porque la participación de los Estados miembro es voluntaria.
Hasta ahora 22 países aportaron datos y, en 2022, solo 14 países informaron sobre la concentración de estos contaminantes en aguas superficiales.
En Bélgica, Francia e Islandia, el 100% de las masas de agua analizadas superaban los límites, mientras que en cinco países (España, Irlanda, Polonia, Croacia y Estonia), menos del 20% de los sitios presentaban excedencias.
Tres países (Bulgaria, Letonia y Montenegro) no registraron ningún sitio con exceso de contaminación.
"Necesitamos más datos de monitoreo para mapear la contaminación y obtener una imagen más completa de los puntos críticos de PFOS", explicó Magnus Lofsted, coautor del informe.
Lofsted enfatizó la necesidad de intensificar los esfuerzos de monitoreo utilizando métodos lo suficientemente sensibles como para detectar estas sustancias en niveles muy bajos.
This translation/subtitling/voice-over was generated by AI, without human review or editing, it is provided “as is”, as specified in the platform’s Terms of Use.
Copenhagen - Contamination of so-called forever chemicals in European waters often exceeds regulatory thresholds set to reduce potential risks to human health and the environment, the EU's environment agency has warned.
Presenting an overview of the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- often called forever chemicals -- the European Environment Agency (EEA) said perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), which was banned in 2019, was found "throughout European waters."
"We have a problem with PFOS which is both persistent and widespread," Nadia Cerioli, an expert with EEA, told AFP on December 10.
A Dutch researcher checks soil samples for evidence of PFOS in Amsterdam. Photo: Jeroen Jumelet / ANP
Between 2018 and 2022, depending on the sites for which data are available, 51 to 60 percent of rivers, 11 to 35 percent of lakes and 47 to 100 percent of coastal waters exceeded environmental quality standards for PFOS, according to the report Cerioli co-authored.
The report, the first inventory in Europe, collated data on reported concentrations of PFOS, one of the two most widespread PFAS, which is classified as a "possible carcinogen" by the World Health Organization.
Reported on a voluntary basis, the data collected by the EEA does not offer a complete overview because not all of its member states -- which include several non-EU countries -- report them.
Graphic showing properties and uses of "forever" chemicals"
In 2022, 14 countries reported data on the concentration of pollutants in surface waters.
In Belgium, France and Iceland, 100 percent of reported water bodies had levels exceeding quality standards, while five countries (Spain, Ireland, Poland, Croatia and Estonia) reported levels exceeding the threshold in less than 20 percent of sites.
In three countries, Bulgaria, Latvia and Montenegro, no sites recorded levels exceeding guidelines.
"We still need more monitoring data to map the contamination and to get a more complete picture of where you find PFOS hotspots," Magnus Lofsted, another co-author of the report, said, lamenting a lack of knowledge on the occurrence of the chemicals.
"This points to the need for increased monitoring efforts for PFAS using methods that have a sufficient sensitivity to also detect the substances at very low levels," he added.
According to Lofsted, it is impossible to determine what the trend is for the spread of the pollutants, despite the ban, since data has not been recorded for long enough.
