The cabinet is tightening the permits for discharging pfas into water bodies. This is to ensure that the concentrations of Pfas in drinking water are reduced in the short term. Minister Harbers (Infrastructure and Water Management) wrote this in response to a report by the RIVM to the House of Representatives.

In this report, RIVM writes that the amount of Pfas in Dutch drinking water must be reduced in the coming years. The institute comes to this conclusion based on water measurements. In particular, the drinking water obtained from river water must be cleaner.

In more than half of the measurements, the PFA amount was higher than recommended by the RIVM. This is particularly the case in the west of the Netherlands, where most drinking water comes from river water.

“Drink tap water responsibly”

Drinking tap water is still to blame, the RIVM points out. The amounts of Pfas in drinking water remain below the safe limit of the RIVM. However, since humans also ingest Pfas in other ways (e.g. via cosmetics and food), the concentrations in drinking water must be reduced. This is to prevent people from being exposed to too many Pfas.

Harbers is now proposing a new standard for Pfas discharge per liter of wastewater. New permits must comply with this, old permits are adjusted accordingly. “The aim is to prevent contamination in advance, rather than drinking water companies having to remove the PFAs themselves,” the minister writes.

The RIVM advises people not to get more than 20 percent of their Pfas intake through drinking water. In more than half of the drinking water measurements from river water, this limit of 20 percent is now exceeded. The exceedance also applies to 1 in 10 measurements in drinking water obtained from groundwater.

The substances enter nature via emissions from factories and the use of PFA products. They pollute the drinking water and the soil, which means that people also come into contact with them. This can have negative consequences for the immune system. Last June, the limit values ​​for Pfas were tightened because the substances turned out to be more harmful than previously thought.

Previous research has already shown that concentrations of Pfas in certain rivers and near certain locations are relatively high. This applies, for example, to the area around the chemical company Chemours (Sliedrecht). The chemicals are also relatively common in home-caught fish, shellfish and sea vegetables from the Westerschelde.