The UFC-Que Choisir once again points the finger at endocrine disruptors.

More than a million consumers, especially in rural areas, drink water polluted mainly by pesticides, denounces the consumer association on Tuesday.

Based on the results of analyzes carried out on behalf of the Regional Health Agencies (ARS) and the NGO Future Generations, the association updated its national study on the quality of drinking water and put a map online. interactive.

It nevertheless reveals that the quality of the water is improving: “98% of consumers have access to water that meets all of the health criteria, an increase of more than two points compared to the previous study in 2017. ".

The case of rural and mountain areas

This improvement can be explained by three factors: “in large cities, contaminated networks have been closed, the NOTRe law has encouraged skill groups at inter-municipal level with the objective of putting financial resources into the common pot and it There have been technical improvements, ”explains Olivier Andrault of UFC-Que Choisir, who led the study.

Problems remain, however, particularly in rural and mountain areas.

According to UFC-Que Choisir, "agricultural pollution is still the leading cause of contamination: 450,000 consumers drink water that exceeds maximum pesticide standards and 148,000 water contaminated by nitrates".

The association notably cites the towns of Château-Gontier (Mayenne), Langres (Haute-Marne) for pesticides and Berck (Pas-de-Calais), Chinon (Indre-et-Loire) for nitrates.

Water bills pay for pollution control

Moreover, "this paradox of good drinking water quality can be explained by the implementation of costly pollution control treatments", according to the study.

"The cost of cleaning up agricultural pollution represents between 750 million and 1.3 billion euros per year, entirely financed by consumers via their water bills".

The UFC-Que Choisir and Future Generations are worried about the disparity, according to the departments, of the pesticides sought in drinking water.

"750 molecules of pesticides or derivatives can be found in nature, on average only 206 are researched in France", explains Olivier Andrault.

"In some areas such as Aisne, which is nevertheless an agricultural department with large intensive crops using very pesticides, we can go down to twelve".

Act in the name of the precautionary principle

The associations are also concerned about the presence of pesticides suspected of being endocrine disruptors.

The study “thus reveals the presence of pesticides suspected of being endocrine disruptors in an average of 28% of analyzes considered to comply with the regulations”.

Therefore, the authors call for the marketing of these pesticides to be banned in the name of the precautionary principle.

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