Incomprehension about the intention to release waste processor PFAS in Weert: ‘Those substances end up in the drinking water of millions of people’

What do you do with waste water that is contaminated with PFAS? Just let it run in the sewer? That should be possible, according to the province of Limburg. He is considering giving waste processor chemically physical separation (CFS) in Weert a permit to discharge PFAS annually, about five kilos.

“Incomprehensible,” says Jeroen Achten, member of the daily management of the Limburg Water Board, that possible discharge. “We all know now about the harmfulness of those chemicals.” According to the water board, the PFAS ends up in the Maas via the sewer and the purification, from which drinking water is extracted. That is why, like the municipality of Weert, it aims to take legal action if the environmental permit is issued.

It is not that far yet. The province has yet to respond to a whole series of arguments against the discharge. And the current proposal goes against numerous negative advice: that of the water board, of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (“I advise you to refuse the application for conflict with best available techniques”) and drinking water company Evides (“PFAS do not belong in the environment, certainly not in sources for drinking water”).

There are also States questions from the D66 groups, GroenLinks, Party for the Animals, Forum for Democracy and SP. MP Geert Gabriëls (GroenLinks-PvdA), originating from Weert, has also asked Thierry Aartsen, the State Secretary for Infrastructure and the Environment (VVD).

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Waste

“The address for waste waters” is on the CFS site. The company cleans for the industry ‘all occurring sediment-containing waste waters’ plus mixtures of oil, water and sludge. “CFS meets the relevant European and national standards in the field of quality, safety, occupational health and safety,” is also reading.

CFS – a subsidiary of waste processor and recycling company Renewi – has been operating on an industrial estate on the west side of Weert since 1989. With 28 employees. “Our customers are mainly companies from the southern Netherlands,” says Environment & Quality Director Jacques de Jong.

PFAS forms a ‘family’ of chemicals that hardly let themselves be demolished. They become Forever Chemicals named. Addition of PFAS makes products water, fat and dirt-repellent. They are used in clothing, pans, makeup and medicines, extinguishing foam and pesticides.

“Now to [een uitstoot van] Going zero is an illusion, “says De Jong.” Some companies that offer our waste water know that they are offering PFAS. Other companies are not even aware of that. They are also in the dishwashing water due to anti-baking pans. “

Jeroen considered the water board: “The most efficient method is to tackle PFAS pollution at the source: with the makers of the products.”

Precedent

Another pain point, eight, says that “the substances go through the municipal sewer to the municipal water treatment of the water board. It is not designed on it, so that the substances end up in the Zuid-Willemsvaart and finally in the Maas”. And so the harmful substances eventually end up in “the drinking water supply of millions of people, including in the south of the Randstad”.

That is not the only objection of considering, which also fears that “a permit as it creates a precedent,” because “if you allow this […] You can hardly or hardly refuse the other companies anymore ”.

Now to [een uitstoot van] going zero is an illusion

De Jong van CFS mentions five kilos of PFAS, in proportion to the total annually discharged amount of waste water of 150 million liters, not very much. “And it is a maximum permitted amount. It is not said that we will use that space completely. Stronger, we try to make it as small as possible. With our techniques we can reduce the PFAS concentrations at least 95 percent. Society needs companies like CFS as long as we are confronted with PFAS. Where do companies have to go otherwise?”

But according to eight, PFAS belongs to the ‘very worrying substances’ category for a reason. And the presence in such a large total amount of water makes measures difficult and expensive. “It is almost impossible to filter out and if it succeeds, the water board should invest enormously for that.”

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Water system

“Economic interests seem the most important,” noted councilor Piet Scholten (so Weert) during a inserted municipal meeting last Tuesday. Leon Heuvelmans, PvdA councilor, wonders “how governments can still keep authority in enforcement if they allow this. And this not only has consequences for the Weertenaren, but also for residents of municipalities further on the water system of the Zuid-Willemsvaart and the Maas”.

Alderman Michèle Ferrière (Weert Lokaal, Public Health) calls it “not to accept that the importance of the residents of Weert was not sufficiently taken” in the intention of permit the PFAS-LOOZingen.

A spokesperson for the province says that Deputy Michael Theuns (CDA, space, soil, water and environmental permits) now do not want to comment. Theuns wants-at the latest at the beginning of September-first to answer the States questions about allowing PFAS-LOZINGEN by CFS.

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