Water companies ask Germany to tackle PFAS dumping in Rhine

Dutch drinking water companies are asking Germany to “set limits on the discharge” of PFAS into the Rhine. “Dutch citizens and companies will have a growing need for clean drinking water in the coming years, but producing it is becoming increasingly expensive due to industrial discharges in Germany,” the association of drinking water companies dependent on the Rhine for their production, RIWA-Rijn, said in a letter to German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke.

Dutch drinking water companies are partly dependent on the Rhine River, which runs through Germany to the Netherlands, for their water production. According to the organization, Germany has made agreements on water quality and discharges on a national and European level but is not complying with these agreements.

“The agreements are there, they are just not being followed up. That is what we are reminding the German Minister of,” RIWA-Rijn director Gerard Stroomberg said. Germany agreed to include discharge limit values on permits and ultimately aim for zero discharges. “The permits that are issued do contain values that must be strived for, but they are not legally enforceable. So there are no consequences if a company discharges more.”

As a result, companies in Germany are discharging up to ten times more in some places than agreed upon. Water from the Rhine contains three to four times more PFAS than is considered safe, according to the organization.

RIWA-Rijn pointed out to Germany that it is part of a collaboration with the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden that is advocating for a total ban on PFAS in the European Union. “The German government believes that PFAS compounds are so harmful that they should be banned throughout Europe, which is a position that we wholeheartedly support,” Stroomberg said. But that position is not apparent in Germany’s lack of effort to prevent discharges.

The organization urged the German government to take action against companies that discharge into the Rhine and to establish clear limit values for quantities of PFAS. If the government sets strict limits, it will “encourage the industry to develop better purification techniques or possibly alternatives for PFAS compounds more quickly,” RIWA-Rijn believes.