PFAS: what level of eternal pollutants will be found in the tap water of these municipalities in Hérault ?

Laurent Hercé a décidé de mener l'expérience à Sète. – V. G.

In Hérault, Europe Écologie Les Verts is launching a tap water testing campaign to measure the level of chemical molecules called PFAS. In Sète, the elected environmentalist Laurent Hercé worked on it, with the aim of informing the citizens.

Friday March 8, ecologist Laurent Hercé receives at his home, in Sète, in the presence of activist friends. The elected official from Sète wants to carry out an experiment: to raise the level of PFAS, this large family of more than 4,000 chemical compounds, present in his tap water. His party has set up kits allowing its members to take measurements for analysis.

In a few seconds, the bottle is filled. He is then placed in a cooler and will quickly head to a laboratory in Paris. Kits like this one were distributed to activists in Hérault, Gard, and Aude: "In Hérault , you have Mauguio, Saint-André-de-Sangonis, Fabrègues or even Sète", the elected list.

"Know if the water in Sète is drinkable in the long term"

"The objective is to inform the Sétois about the presence of these eternal pollutants in their water, explains Laurent Hercé. The controls today are not sophisticated enough. We are talking about a public health subject. I want to know if the tap water in Sète is drinkable regularly, in the long term, and safe."

The elected environmentalist has been drinking tap water, which he filters, for around thirty years.

The Green elected official, who has already called on the City to push for controls in this area, has still not recovered from the revelations emanating from the Occitanie Regional Health Agency ( ARS), last September. Its director, Didier Jaffre, had mentioned the presence "of Pfas and metabolites everywhere" in Occitanie.

Don't wait until 2026

General practitioner in Sète and activist, Marie-Thérèse Mattera, present Friday evening, is worried about the situation. "The risks linked to Pfas are problems linked to immunity, endocrine disorders and early puberty, fetal development…" To date, conventional surveys do not mention measurements concerning Pfas and metabolites. More in-depth checks, including these components, will not be mandatory until 2026.

But Laurent Hercé, who has been drinking this water, certainly filtered, "for thirty years", does not’hear don't wait so long. He hopes to give good news to the Sétois, but nothing is less certain… hellip; Response within three weeks.

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