Ardennes: Six municipalities will file a complaint after PFAS pollution rendered tap water unsafe

In the Ardennes, tap water has taken on the flavor of a bad soap opera. Six municipalities—Malandry, Milly, Ferté-sur-Chiers, Blagny, Linay, and Haraucourt—have announced their intention to file a complaint against persons unknown after their soils were contaminated with PFAS, substances nicknamed "eternal pollutants." In July, the situation reached a concrete and brutal turning point: the drinking water was deemed unfit for consumption.

On Thursday, the decision was validated by the prefecture. The stated objective of the municipalities is to establish responsibility in a case where residents' concerns are intertwined with the frustration of elected officials, who are forced to manage the emergency without always having a grasp of the history. Because PFAS, used in various industrial processes, don't just pass through; they cling on, they settle in, they leave behind a trace that cannot be washed away.

When water becomes a legal case

An investigation published in February by France 3 Champagne-Ardenne and Disclose suggests a possible link to the spreading of sludge from the Stenay paper mill in the Meuse region. On the ground, questions are piling up, less theoretical than they seem: who knew, for how long, and who deemed it acceptable to leave the tap running as if nothing were wrong? In several areas, monitoring of PFAS in drinking water has been stepped up, a sign that the issue is no longer confined to technical reports.

The mayor of Malandry, Annick Dufils, speaks of a "denial of the environmental scandal" and a "denial at the health level." She asserts that analyses have existed for several years and questions the timing of the information provided to municipalities, a point that fundamentally alters the trust placed in institutions. The elected official says she has requested epidemiological monitoring from the Ministry of Health and reports having had a blood test in September, the results of which, according to her, show a high level of PFAS.

In this climate, residents are also organizing their response. Jean-Marie Pierre, a general practitioner in a neighboring town, says he wants to bring together residents from the "PFAS Ardennes" collective around a departmental defense association, a way of preventing the issue from getting bogged down in legal proceedings. Five of the 13 towns officially recognized as affected remain under a prefectural order prohibiting the consumption of tap water, a measure that weighs heavily on daily life and foreshadows a long process involving expert assessments, demands for transparency, and a battle for compensation.