According to analyzes carried out in September by Radio France in Saint-Symphorien-d’Ozon, the PFAS content of the town’s tap water is below the required standards. But it will no longer be in 2026, when European standards apply.
In August, the Lyon judicial court appointed a panel of three independent experts to investigate the origin of these eternal pollutants. The judge grants the request of the metropolis of Lyon, the Public Water Authority of Greater Lyon and the Rhône-Sud Mixed Drinking Water Union, who wish to establish the responsibilities of Arkema and Daikin, based in Pierre-Bénite, about ten kilometers south of Lyon, in this pollution. “A 2012 study demonstrated contamination by three PFAS, the profiles of which were only found downstream of Pierre-Bénite. These profiles are a bit like the signature, the business card of the chemical platform, since they refer to the history and nature of its releases. argued Quentin Untermaier, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, during the hearing in March.
A “historic” judgment
The experts will have to establish whether this “signature” is indeed that of Arkema and Daikin, producers of PFAS, or if it involves other industrialists in the area, such as Domo Chemicals and Kem One. Arkema is trying to play this card: “Thirty sites identified as PFAS users are in the perimeter around Pierre-Bénite”, defended Arkema’s lawyer. But the reports from the Regional Environment Directorate ruled out this probability. “We do not use PFAS in our production,” confirms to L’Usine Nouvelle Yves Bonte, CEO of Belgian Domo Chemicals, which manufactures polyamide compounds (or composites) in Saint-Fons for the plastics industry, intended, in particular, for automotive equipment manufacturers.
Without waiting for the results of the expertise, expected at the end of 2025, Bruno Bernard, the president (Les Écologists) of the metropolis of Lyon, described this judgment as“historical”. He hopes that the responsibility of the two industrialists will be established. Such a decision, which would be a first, could open the way to other legal actions against industrialists releasing so-called eternal pollutants. The president of the metropolis also hopes to be able to apply the polluter pays principle.
The presence of PFAS generates significant expenses for the community. The installation of activated carbon filters for catchments, notably that of Ternay, south of Lyon, cost 6 million euros. “As they will have to be changed regularly, the operating cost will increase by 600,000 euros per year,” specifies Anne Grosperrin, who believes that “drinking water compliance will be achieved by the end of 2025”.
Added to this are the costs incurred to compensate for the lower production from contaminated catchment sites, while the drinking water supply of around 60,000 inhabitants is at stake. A catchment field in the north of Lyon, that of Crépieux Charmy, must be connected to Saint-Genis-Laval, to the south, after crossing the Rhône. “Last year, we mentioned a works budget of 11 million euros. The envelope is already around 21 million,” calculates the elected environmentalist. Anne Grosperrin is also carefully monitoring the European Union’s thoughts on strengthening standards. If they become more severe, it may be necessary to add other treatment systems and budget a few million additional euros. On the side of Daikin and Arkema, who have reduced their releases, we plead good faith. The two chemists recently obtained authorizations to expand their sites, in exchange for a plan to reduce their emissions.
Concern about the price of water
Local residents do not understand that the State does not require zero emissions. The pressure is such that Daikin, which has already built an extension for a precompound workshop, had to shut it down after a few months of operation. In June, administrative justice ruled in favor of the opponents. It suspended the prefectural decree and requested a new operating authorization instead of a simple extension authorization. The prefecture therefore relaunched a consultation last summer. It ended at the end of September with an anti-PFAS demonstration. “The prefectural decree already prescribed lower emission thresholds than those required by regulations,” defends Gaël Marseille, the president of Daikin Chemical France, who has installed air treatment to eliminate hexafluoropropene, a gas used in its processes.
The metropolis of Lyon and the water unions of course want to present the bill to the industrialists if their responsibility is proven. In 2023, the metropolis took over water management formerly the responsibility of Veolia under public management. Behind this political gesture by the environmentalist majority, there is the promise to contain the price of water. Which risks climbing.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
