The Paris police headquarters said Monday evening that it had not "identified any particular compound" which could have been the source of a sulfur odor felt in Île-de-France during the night from Sunday to Monday. The smell, also comparable to that of rotten egg, was felt Sunday evening in the north of Paris, according to the testimony of very many internet users on social networks.
"The central laboratory of the Paris Prefecture of Police carried out and analyzed air samples. These analyzes did not identify any particular compound, in particular sulfur, which could have been the cause of these odors", according to a press release. "The Prefecture of Police also recalls that it has not been aware of any event of the industrial incident type in the region which could have been the source", continues the Prefecture of Police. "The smell of sulfur was recognizable but the concentration was very, very weak," Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy mayor of Paris, told AFP.
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A smell reported for tens of kilometers around
Two hypotheses were considered, "the sanitation source" of wastewater, and "a cloud of sulfur dioxide coming from abroad," said Emmanuel Grégoire. Ile-de-France firefighters have received numerous calls since Sunday evening to report an unusual smell of sulfur in the air, without being able to give an explanation on Monday for this phenomenon, possibly linked to bad weather, according to them .
The smell was reported as far as Melun (50 km south of Paris) and Meaux (50 km east of Paris), firefighters in Seine-et-Marne confirmed on Monday. "Sulfur odor felt in several departments probably linked to recent bad weather. Taking into account, this odor does not correspond to any particular intervention in progress," confirmed the Paris Fire Brigade at night on Twitter.
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No anomalies noted by the sanitation union
The Ile-de-France air quality monitoring organization, Airparif, has not noted high sulfur dioxide levels, but told AFP that the smell of rotten eggs can also be emitted by a component very present in wastewater, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a gas very recognizable by its foul odor, which is not part of its records.
The SIAAP (Interdepartmental Union for Sanitation of the Parisian Agglomeration), for its part affirms that it did not find any anomaly on its systems despite checks on Sunday and Monday and that "the origin of the odors felt by the population does not come Severe thunderstorms erupted Saturday night over the Paris region, scattered rains and strong gusts of wind continued to hit Monday, while gradual deconfinement began in France.