Severe PFAS contamination in drinking water has been discovered in Lombardy

Out of 31 samples collected in the drinking water of a series of municipalities in Lombardy, 11 - equal to approximately 35% of the total - were contaminated with Pfas, perfluoroalkyl substances produced by industries and associated with numerous pathologies, including some forms of cancer.This is what emerges from the report "Pfas and drinking water in Lombardy, Greenpeace Italia sampling", just published by the environmental organisation, in which the results of a monitoring conducted in all 12 Lombardy provinces are presented, in which important "critical issues regarding contamination" are confirmed.

The samples were collected between May 12th and 18th, in most cases from public fountains that are located near primary schools or children's playgrounds, and then examined in an independent laboratory.The presence of PFAS was certified in the waters of the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Milan, Lodi and Varese.The organization has recorded Pfas contamination above the limit indicated in the European Directive 2020/2184, or 100 nanograms per liter, in 4 cases.This occurred in Crespiatica and Corte Palasio, both in the province of Lodi (1,840 ng/l and 104 ng/l for the sum of PFAS respectively) and in Caravaggio and Mozzanica, in the province of Bergamo (132 ng/l and 116 ng/l).The other samples contaminated with Pfas, lower than 100 ng/l but still higher than more precautionary values ​​for human health which are in force in Denmark or are proposed in the USA, came from Pontirolo Nuovo (Bergamo), Mariano Comense (Como), Capriolo (Brescia), Somma Lombardo (Varese), and via Civitavecchia and via Cusago in Milan.Following the analyses, Greenpeace announced that it presented you are exposed to the Lombard prosecutors' offices of reference "to ask to identify polluting sources, stop pollution and adopt measures to prevent the population from drinking water contaminated by PFAS".

Last May, after numerous requests for access to documents sent to health protection agencies and water management bodies in Lombardy, Greenpeace had branched out the results of the analyzes carried out by the competent authorities on the concentration of Pfas in thewater intended for drinking use in Lombardy between 2018 and 2022.The test resulted positive for the presence of approximately perfluoroalkyl substances 19% of the samples (as many as 738).The highest value of positivity to Pfas (equal to 84% of the samples) was found in the waters of the province of Lodi, followed by Bergamo (60.6%) and Como (41.2%).In Milan, almost one in three samples was found to be contaminated.

“Although Greenpeace Italia has carried out a small number of samplings, these results confirm that numerous points of the Lombardy drinking water network are contaminated by PFAS – wrote the organization in the latest report –.It's a painting certainly partial, which in some cases exceeds the levels set by the Community Directive and in others the health safety values ​​adopted in other nations.The data, however, in almost all cases are in perfect continuity with those obtained from public bodies and published by Greenpeace Italia last May".

[by Stefano Baudino]