Tap water polluted with PFAS banned for consumption in sixteen villages in eastern France

"Non-potable water" signs posted on fountains in four villages in Meuse, eastern France, on July 10, 2025. ROMAIN DOUCELIN/SIPA

"Non-potable water" signs posted on fountains and hundreds of packs of water delivered to residents: in four villages in Meuse (Grand Est) where tap water consumption is banned following the discovery of abnormal levels of perennial pollutants (PFAS), there is great concern.

"All of this is causing a lot of worry, a lot of stress" among the population, observes Manu Delgoffe, co-founder of a Facebook group dedicated to the issue, which brings together more than 200 local residents. "People are worried because, apparently, this pollution has been going on for many years."

The town halls of these villages in the north of the Meuse, Juvigny-sur-Loison, Louppy-sur-Loison, Han-lès-Juvigny and Remoiville, all located near a watercourse, the Loison, must provide drinking water to the 620 inhabitants who can no longer consume tap water.

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A law on perpetual pollutants enacted earlier this year plans to include PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in the health monitoring of drinking water. However, two samples taken this spring revealed PFAS levels well above the legal limit of 100 nanograms per liter (ng/l) in the distributed water. Between five and twenty times higher than the European guideline value, in the Meuse region!

Suspicions about the spreading of paper mill sludge

Twelve other municipalities in the neighboring Ardennes, with a total of 2,800 inhabitants, are also affected by the ban on tap water consumption, which could last at least until December.

In Villy (Ardennes), PFAS levels even reached a record in France, at 2,729 ng/l, 27 times the authorized limit. "I was stunned to see industrial pollution in my area, right in the middle of agricultural nature, in a very rural area," Eric Saunois, a farmer in Han-lès-Juvigny, one of the affected Meuse municipalities, told AFP.

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During a public meeting attended by more than a hundred people in the small village, the question of the duration of the exhibition was raised, but the authorities were unable to answer, simply stating that an investigation and analyses were underway.

According to the Meuse and Ardennes prefectures, the pollution could be linked to the spreading of paper mill sludge, which could contain PFAS, on agricultural plots located near drinking water catchments. "This is obviously a concern" for government services, also acknowledged the sub-prefect of Verdun, Xavier Pannecoucke. He described the situation as a "crisis" and announced that if illegal acts explaining the pollution were discovered, the authorities would report the matter to the public prosecutor.

“It worries us for our health, for the children.”

The residents interviewed by AFP all expressed concern: PFAS can have harmful effects on human health, including birth defects, reduced fertility, and rare cancers.

"Here, we don't know when the PFAS got into the water, nor how each of you will react" to this, Dr. Arielle Brunner, Director of Public Health at the Grand Est Regional Health Agency, told worried residents. Today, in France, "we don't know the value at which there is an impact on health."

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"We don't have running water, we don't have drinking water. We're in for months, even years ," Claire Woibee, a resident of the commune, said at the public meeting, according to France 3 Grand Est . "It worries us for our health, for the children, for the most vulnerable, for the animals."

Living in Juvigny-sur-Loison, Emmanuel Delgoffe also asked: "If this water is not suitable for drinking, it is absolutely not suitable for eating. What happens when we want to make soup? When we want to cook rice? Two bottles of water per day per person are not going to cover all of our needs!"

Two liters of drinking water distributed per day per inhabitant

"It's a meteorite" that fell in Han-lès-Juvigny, despairs Christian Saunois, mayor of the village of 150 inhabitants. "We're not prepared for all this." "The situation is a bit catastrophic," agrees Dominique Pezet, second deputy mayor of the neighboring village of Juvigny-sur-Loison. She explains that it took the help of associations and the municipal council to allow the distribution of bottled mineral water to the inhabitants.

Seven pallets were delivered Tuesday afternoon by a local brewer, and orders have been placed for deliveries in the coming weeks. "It's gold now," sighs another councilwoman.

Mayors must distribute two liters of drinking water per person per day, which represents a cost of around 22,000 euros per year in Han-lès-Juvigny, for example. "This was not budgeted at all," the mayor emphasizes. It will then be necessary to find "a spring or borehole capable of supplying 50,000 m3 of water per year" to the four villages.

By The New Obs with AFP

Le Nouvel Observateur

Tap water polluted with PFAS banned for consumption in sixteen villages in eastern France

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