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French villages have no more drinking water. The reason? PFAS pollution
- krunck 1y agohttps://archive.is/5Eayg https://archive.is/5Eayg
- fsckboy 1y agotitle! "These French villages have no more drinking water" "Nearly 3,500 residents across 16 rural villages have been unable to drink tap water since July 10" and "At this stage, statistically, there are no adverse health indicators demonstrating a health consequence for the populations of these villages."
- permo-w 1y ago>French villages have no more drinking water it's not unreasonable to expect a reader to glean that it means that the villages have no more water drinkable from the ground. the alternative is deeply unlikely
- fsckboy 1y agothe alternative that all the villages in france, in the entire country, have bad drinking water is entirely believable and that's what is not true, it's just a programmer's dozen of them, and that's the clarification I was looking for, this is a tiny problem that effects few people and a small geographic area.
- permo-w 1y agothat is not the logical alternative
- necovek 1y agoI would suggest simply "French villages with no drinking water due to PFAS pollution".
- fsckboy 1y agoi would suggest 16 French villages, it's a tiny number. "French villages" is too broad a category.
- the__alchemist 1y agoPFAS and microplastics in general is a good candidate for the acute environmental toxicity sin of our generation. Will / when will we correct?
- OutOfHere 1y agoThere will be no correction. There will only be collapse and perhaps partial mitigation. Correction implies a brain, and if we collectively had one, we wouldn't have been polluting with these toxins in the first place. Moreover, correction alone is not sufficient -- it doesn't remove the PFAS which is already in the ecosystem. It will take over ten thousand years of UV light to naturally break it apart.
- eulgro 1y agoHow is the chemical industry supposed to make a profit if they have to do 50 years studies on people and the environment when they manufacture a new compound? Think about the shareholders.
- OutOfHere 1y agoIt was already clearly known at the time that PFAS was originally engineered that it's harmful and that it accumulates in the environment. This data was just willfully chosen to be ignored in the name of profits.
- collingreen 1y agoPlus all the slight variants made to avoid legislation and to spread the stats of the contamination problem around. The PFAS story is a pretty nasty one.
- eulgro 1y agoLuckily they have thousands of variations available for PFAS, so we'll only have to wait a few thousand years before they regulate them all, assuming it takes about 20 years for them to realize the new variation is exactly like the previous one.
- adolph 1y agoThis is pretty fascinating. Where did the PFAS come from? How long has it existed in the drinking water? Yet here, just half an hour from Sedan, the region's second-biggest town, there is no chemical plant. Only fields of corn and rapeseed, few cattle farms, and small wooded hills. [...] Contacted by Le Monde, the ARS and the prefectures of the Ardennes and Meuse departments sought to reassure: "At this stage, statistically, there are no adverse health indicators demonstrating a health consequence for the populations of these villages." The authorities based their response on the results of a national epidemiological study titled "Esteban" which dates back to 2016. [...] The authorities currently favor one explanation for the pollution: the use of paper mill sludge as fertilizer on farmland near drinking water catchments.
- nayuki 1y agoCan PFAS be removed by consumer-grade reverse-osmosis (RO) water filters? Addendum: It turns out that a linked article from Le Monde answers that: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/our-times/article/2025/03/09/can-tap-water-be-effectively-treated-against-pfas-and-other-pollutants_6738970_39.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/our-times/article/2025/03/09/can-t... , https://archive.is/RFNe9 https://archive.is/RFNe9
- mdp 1y ago"All of the under-sink reverse osmosis and two-stage filters achieved near-complete removal of the PFAS chemicals we were testing for,” Stapleton said. “In contrast, the effectiveness of activated-carbon filters used in many pitcher, countertop, refrigerator and faucet-mounted styles was inconsistent and unpredictable. The whole-house systems were also widely variable and in some cases actually increased PFAS levels in the water.” - https://nicholas.duke.edu/news/not-all-home-drinking-water-filters-completely-remove-toxic-pfas https://nicholas.duke.edu/news/not-all-home-drinking-water-f...
- sidewndr46 1y agoI was thinking the same thing. The chamber holding the activated carbon is probably lined with plastic
- thfuran 1y agoBut probably not one with PFAS
- OutOfHere 1y agoNote that the multistage RO filter can be a countertop one. It doesn't need to be an under-sink one. Just remember to change the filters on time. Another thing that people overlook about RO is that it's critically essential to remineralize it safely and to normalize its pH. Drinking demineralized or acidic RO filtered water is harmful!
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- oulipo 1y agoThe reason is PFAS *and* a competent administration which monitors waters and has laws to protect citizens... I'm wondering how many localities in the US have dangerous water and citizens are not even informed
- LtWorf 1y agoVeritasium had a video about this
- fer 1y agoVideo in question, quality content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC2eSujzrUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC2eSujzrUY
- nayuki 1y agoAdditional good videos: * Vox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZHuZkUUYM4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZHuZkUUYM4 * MinuteEarth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3aFzQdWQTg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3aFzQdWQTg * MinuteFood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1hbV3EzOD4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1hbV3EzOD4 * LastWeekTonight (John Oliver): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W74aeuqsiU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W74aeuqsiU (2021) * LastWeekTonight (John Oliver): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHzCRkt1f6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHzCRkt1f6c (2024) * DW (Deutsche Welle) Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfVW65gRPgQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfVW65gRPgQ
- LtWorf 1y agoThanks, I was too lazy to look it up again :D
- Steven420 1y ago"The authorities currently favor one explanation for the pollution: the use of paper mill sludge as fertilizer on farmland near drinking water catchments." You have to be incredibly greedy and stupid to use industrial waste as fertilizer
- kzrdude 1y agoIt is not greedy to try to create a more circular system where waste products are reused
- jonplackett 1y agoIt is if those waste products are drastically cheaper than what you should be using
- marky1991 1y agoWhy? Are you saying we should only do waste reduction if it's expensive? "Should" here is doing a lot of work, it makes the argument circular imo.
- arbitrary_name 1y agoWe should only do waste reduction if it doesn't result in wide scale poisoning of aquifers and biomes. Does that sound more agreeable?
- marky1991 1y agoYeah, that position makes sense.
- andrewstuart 1y agoKeep toxins out of landfill at any possible cost no matter how high, including poisoning ourselves. Landfill is precious and sacred and must not be used.
- wood_spirit 1y agoIn Sweden, areas near airbases have been suffering from health complications from pfas which was used in firefighting exercises. There have been long running court cases trying to get compensation.
- PlatinumHarp 1y agoThe Canadian forces have also caused contamination due to the same reason. The Department of Defense have been testing the wells around the bases and notifying residents. There are also court cases pending as it seems like the Military was very slow to react.
- red-iron-pine 1y agoit's same in the US. lots of AF and USN aviation have issues with water quality near airfields -- plenty are consider EPA superfund sites. or were, since the GOP is doing everything it can to dismantle the EPA.
- accrual 1y agoHas anyone here had experience using plasma donation as a way to reduce their blood PFAS concentration? I know it's an imperfect solution but I feel like it's the only way to have a measurable impact on ones levels beyond replacing all the plastic in the kitchen, being cautious of water and food sources, etc.
- fredley 1y agoDo plasma donations remove more PFAS than other types of blood donation? I donate whole blood regularly, but have never measured my PFAS levels. As far as I know there isn't great data yet on whether it makes a big difference.
- Mistletoe 1y agoThe firefighter study seemed pretty conclusive that plasma donation lowered it much more. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8994130/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8994130/
- jsutter909 1y agoThere has got to be a less zero-sum solution than donating to someone else your own PFAS contaminated plasma
- SirFatty 1y agoIt's a growing problem here in the US as well (speaking about Illinois specifically. My understanding is that PFAS can be filtered with active carbon filtration/reverse osmosis filtering.
- Night_Thastus 1y agoReverse osmosis filtering is brutal though. I think the most efficient ones are still like what, 1:2? 2 parts waste per one part clean water produced? It's a lot of wasted water. Even if it was 1:1 it would be terrible, that's doubling water usage. Fine for drinking water, but showing/toilets/machines it's a lot.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- SirFatty 1y agoAgreed... I have one in the kitchen for a while, but the constant water going down the drain sound drove me nuts, not to mention what a waste it is.
- yetihehe 1y agoThey are 1:2 parts when filtering out salt water, because they need to clean out a lot of salt being concentrated before membrane. When filtering clean drinking water containing promiles of pollutants, the ratio would be much better.
- Night_Thastus 1y agoHome units, just filtering tap water, get about 1:2 with pressurization - and worse without a dedicated pump.
- sharpshadow 1y agoWind turbines release PFAS into the environment from coatings and lubricants. For a renewable energy source to help the planet this feels deeply wrong.
- Y-bar 1y ago> In Sweden, other false claims (the latest dating back to August) suggested that there is a connection between the presence of wind farms and high levels of PFAS (also known as “forever chemicals”) in livestock. It all came from an episode in Denmark in the fall of 2022, when it was discovered that 180 cows grazing on coastal meadows had levels of PFAS in their bodies too high to be sold as food. A Swedish newspaper claimed that the high levels came from wind farms west of Denmark, saying that PFAS were a component of the paints used to cover the blades of wind turbines. Although both authorities and researchers denied that the substances found in the cows could have come from the wind turbines, the claims spread on social media and entered the political debate. https://edmo.eu/publications/wind-turbines-and-poisoned-animals-a-new-denials-popular-disinformation-narrative-against-renewable-energy/ https://edmo.eu/publications/wind-turbines-and-poisoned-anim...
- sharpshadow 1y agoDidn’t hear about this until now, but this gives me the opportunity to expand my point. Recently there are effort taken to reduce PFAS chemicals in wind turbines, because the abrasion of various parts exposed the environment around the plants to those chemicals. All older installations are still contaminating the soil and so my estimation sooner or later the ground water too. The concentration is probably much less than those paper sludges, but still for forever chemicals any exposure will be long lasting and damaging.
- AStonesThrow 1y ago[dead]
- akkad33 1y agoThis title is editorialised. The actual title is "These french villages". Leaving out "these" makes it sound like no french village has drinking water
- rossant 1y agoNative French speaker here. Can't 'French villages " also refer to "some french villages " in English?
- Nifty3929 1y agoYes, but one usage is less ambiguous than the other. "French villages" - From two to all, with a bias to "many" "Some French villages" - From two to less-than-all, with a strong bias toward a relatively small percentage. Removing the word "some" very much changes how that title will be understood by a native English speaker. Except for me, because I've started to assume that this type of manipulation is the default and so whatever the title claims, the reality will be much less interesting or meaningful or profound.
- rossant 1y agoVery clear, thanks!
- bell-cot 1y agoSadly, this reminds me of St. Kilda - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland#Evacuation_and_aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland#Evacuation_... - a tiny, remote island north-west of Scotland - which was completely evacuated in 1930. The locals had long spread peat ash and seabird carcasses on their fields - not knowing that those were badly contaminated with lead and other old-fashioned pollutants.
- nycticorax 1y agoThe post title implies that all French villages have no more drinking water, which is not the case. Sounds like it's 16 villages, all near each other. Still a big deal, but not nearly as bad as if it was all of France.
- bokohut 1y agoI have been following this for many years now because immediately to my North along the very water source that provides our area our lives critical liquid is the originating source of PFAs for the planet - W.L.Gore. Our water was lab certified tested in April 2025 and we came in at a whopping 70 parts per trillion, yes 70 ppt! I made a ten minute presentation based on my data and findings in May 2025 before the town and the board was very reluctant to believe my findings yet my persistence has prevailed in my attempt to bring this issue to the forefront of all other local issues. On Wednesday of this week in the public hearing my town board requested the presence of InfraMark which handles our local resource facilities under contract and they very somberly presented what I already knew and have been getting others to act upon. InfraMark disclosed that the town will be forced to clean all the water source wells along with the sewer plants handling of PFAs however as with any government, even MORESO now, they do not have the money. I educated myself and acquired and installed all the needed solutions to remove my own home and family's PFA exposure. I retested in May 2025 and we now have <1 ppt PFA/PFOS in our water and I share that anyone waiting for their government to act to clean their water will likely be dead, naturally or otherwise, before it happens because of the size and costs of such municipal systems. No one cares more about you than you. Stay Healthy!