PFAS:the waters of Turin and over 70 municipalities were contaminated

After the large cases in Veneto, followed by those in Lombardy, PFAS contamination of drinking water has also been reported in Piedmont, where in addition to the already known case of Alessandria, other pollution situations have been identified in over 70 municipalities of the metropolitan city of Turin , including the capital.The one reporting it is a relationship shared yesterday by Greenpeace, which is based on official data from the Piedmontese public bodies for which the association has mandated access instance;in addition to this type of data, Greenpeace has conducted studies independently, carrying out sampling in areas where, unlike those of Turin and Alessandria, the possible presence of PFAS it is not monitored, finding its presence in the Novara area.According to the environmental association, in the Piedmont Region they are approximately 125,000 people who may have drunk water contaminated by PFAS, given that it once again denies the narrative we have become accustomed to according to which "it was thought that the environmental problems linked to PFAS were limited only to some areas of the Veneto".

The findings in Piedmont underline the urgency that characterizes the issue of water contamination by PFAS, against which in Italy, pending January 2026, the date on which the community directive will come into force 2184/2020, There is no rule yet.This is also why many of the entities to which Greenpeace submitted a request for access to the documents were not willing to provide the requested data:of the 43 requests presented (29 to the managers of the integrated water service, 8 to the local health authorities, 5 to the municipalities that independently manage their drinking water network and 1 to the general management of the Piedmont Region) Alone 10 accepted the request providing "often illegible" data, while just as many did not respond, 11 responded that since the European legislation is not in force they are not required to provide any data, 8 justified the failure to submit the data by explaining that "there are no laws already in force that impose limits on the presence of PFAS in drinking water”, and 2 communicated that ARPA Piemonte has explicitly requested not to look for PFAS in water.Given the evident lack of responses, the report's conclusions underline that "the checks by public bodies, incomplete and limited only to some areas, they certainly underestimate the situation”.

Yet according to Greenpeace the situation should not be underestimated.In particular, in fact, the 125,000 people who may have drunk water contaminated by PFAS came into contact with PFOA, a molecule recognized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as carcinogenic.Precisely, Greenpeace had access to 671 samples of water for drinking use analyzed between 2019 and 2023, in which in 51% of cases the presence of PFAS was found.The highest concentration was detected in the province of Alessandria, in whose area five municipalities, those of Alzano Scrivia, Castelnuovo Scrivia, Molino dei Torti, Guazzora and Tortona, presented PFOA contamination in all 24 samples collected over the years.In the metropolitan city of Turin, however, the presence of PFAS was found 77 of the 291 municipalities, and the 45% of the samples came out positive.Finally Greenpeace picked up 15 samples in various municipalities in the Piedmont area, taking an interest in "sensitive places" such as fountains and parks; 5 of them tested positive, one of which specifically in the municipality of Galliate in the Novara area, where the association found contamination by PFOS, a molecule from the PFAS group classified as a possible carcinogen.

PFAS is a group numbering over 10,000 synthetic molecules not present in nature, used in various industrial processes for manufacturing of products such as non-stick pans or some food packaging.Being highly stable molecules, they are impossible to degrade in the environment and have been defined as "eternal pollutants”, and since November 2023 they have also been recognized as carcinogenic.In Italy in 2013 "one of the most serious cases of contamination in the entire European continent" was found among the provinces Venetian of Padua, Verona and Vicenza, while a few months ago in Lombardy a serious contamination was discovered by Greenpeace itself.In this sense, yet another case from Turin can only cause alarm and cause concern that PFAS pollution is more widespread than we think.

[by Dario Lucisano]