What we have is not enough lack of water, but even the water we drink is not always safe. The European NGO Pesticide Action Network found that it is one of the so-called “Eternal Chemicals”, present in 94% of surface water and 63% of bottled water samples – in some cases exceeding the limits set by the revised EU drinking water directive. It is an extremely persistent material found in the chemicals TFA (trifluoroacetic acid), PFAs, or otherwise known as “perfluorinated alkylated compounds.” PFAs have been accused of being associated with a number of diseases. Cancer, hormone disruption, hypertension, developmental disorders in children, and fertility problems are some of the possible side effects of these substances, although causality has yet to be proven.
There is no legal restriction
Currently, the EU has no official legislation on the permissible limit of TFA in water. However, a new directive will come into effect in 2026 on the total accumulation of PFAs in drinking water, which is set at 500 nanograms per liter (ng/L).
The new PAN Europe report, published on July 10, is based on the organization’s field research in 11 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
The organizations collected drinking water samples in their countries between April and June 2024, and the samples were analyzed by the Water Technology Center in Karlsruhe, Germany.
TFA in 94% of tap water
TFA was detected in 34 of 36 European tap water samples and 12 of 19 bottled waters from 11 EU countries. Detected values ranged from 20 ng/L (below detection limit) to 4100 ng/L. On average, it was 740 ng/l in drinking water, and 1220 ng/l in rivers and lakes.
The report called for an immediate ban on PFAS pesticides and fluorinated gases, the two main sources of TFA. It also called for the rapid implementation by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) of a general restriction on PFAS under the EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) regulation of TFA in drinking water and for waters regulated by its Water Framework Directive. Setting quality standards for TFA
In addition, the report recommends applying the “polluter pays” principle where water treatment is necessary due to chemical pollution.
Irreversible effects
“This PAN report is an indication that more and more people are drinking increasing amounts of TFA through their drinking water every day, regardless of where their drinking water comes from,” said Hans Peter Arp, an environmental chemist at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. . “TFA released into the environment today will remain for countless generations and will spread into the most pristine freshwater ecosystems and drinking water networks. “Its effects are irreversible because TFA is so widespread and the cost of its elimination is prohibitive,” the scientist said.
The May report notes that the amount of TFA in the environment has seen a steady increase “largely ignored by the public for decades, but predicted by experts in the 1990s,” quadrupling in two decades, according to a 2020 study.
The May report also stated that TFA cannot be removed from water by filters (such as activated carbon) or ozonation – it can only be removed by reverse osmosis, an expensive technology that “requires more resources, leads to higher energy costs, and increases unresolved energy costs the issue of disposal of generated condensates”
Time for urgent action
“Now is the time to act,” said Helmut Burtscher-Schaden, an environmental chemist at Friends of the Earth in Austria.
“And we cannot wait for the usual procedures in the European Union to ban these pesticides, which will take ten years, maybe 20 years. Therefore, based on the precautionary principle, pesticides should be banned immediately,” he said.