Greenpeace examined nearly 4,000 analyses of drinking water carried out in Lombardy from 2018 onwards: 18.9 per cent detected PFAS.
Drinking water in Lombardy contains PFAS, substances that cause countless harms to human health. And we are not talking about isolated incidents, but about contamination detected in 18.9 per cent of nearly 4,000 analyses carried out from 2018 onwards. Almost one in five. This is what emerges from the first investigation on the subject, conducted by Greenpeace Italia. But the integrated water service operators respond: "The water coming out of the taps is not dangerous at all." The contamination, they argue, is in the raw groundwater, before the drinking water treatment process.
PFAS (poly- and perfluoroalkyl compounds) are thousands of artificial chemical substances widely used by industry because they make materials waterproof and grease-resistant. Over recent decades they have been used in the manufacture of countless mass-market products, including waterproof clothing, non-stick pans and paper packaging.
They are called forever chemicals because they do not break down in the environment and accumulate in the body. And this is the crux of the problem. Scientific studies conducted over time have linked them to a long list of negative health consequences, including damage to the thyroid, liver, immune system, fertility and foetal development, as well as various forms of cancer. Despite this, in Italy — paradoxically — there is no law banning their production and use. And PFAS are not even among the mandatory parameters to be monitored in drinking water.
We know that PFAS contamination in Italy is the most extensive in Europe. But how prevalent are they in Lombardy's water and where? And are citizens aware of it? To answer these questions, between October 2022 and January 2023 Greenpeace Italia's investigative unit submitted numerous freedom of information requests to the ATSs (Agenzie di tutela della salute) and the Lombard water management bodies.
They were then able to view and make public, for the first time, around 4,000 analyses carried out on samples of water intended for drinking use. PFAS were detected in 18.9 per cent of them. In many cases, it is not possible to know whether the water sampled comes from a well or whether it has been fed into the network after treatment (i.e. whether it is the water that ends up in household taps). In the first case the data would be less worrying, as it would pre-date the drinking water treatment processes. In the second case, Lombard citizens would have been drinking water containing PFAS and using it for cooking, irrigating fields and gardens. Greenpeace maintains that the authorities, aware of this data, did not consider it appropriate to launch public information campaigns.
Greenpeace Italia received analyses carried out between 2018 and 2022 on nearly 4,000 samples. As many as 738 contained PFAS: we are therefore talking about 18.9 per cent. This is a partial estimate, because the analyses were only provided by some municipalities and, even where they exist, they are rarely comprehensive and systematic.
The worst-performing province is Lodi, where PFAS were detected in 84.4 per cent of samples. Completing the podium are the provinces of Bergamo and Como, at 60.6 per cent and 41.2 per cent respectively. The province of Milan sits in the middle of the rankings with 20.8 per cent of contaminated samples (one in five), but in numerical terms it comes first, because as many as 966 analyses were carried out there, compared to 46 in Lodi, 213 in Bergamo and 68 in Como.
The highest values were recorded in the municipalities of Crema (1,386 nanograms per litre in September 2021), Crespiatica, in the province of Lodi (1,146 in September 2021 and 1,020 in May 2022) and Pontirolo Nuovo, in the province of Bergamo (1,014 in August 2022). The first value that explicitly refers to tap water is again in Pontirolo Nuovo, at 559 nanograms per litre in September 2022. In the municipality of Milan, PFAS are detected in 31.1 per cent of the 367 samples, mainly in the areas of Crescenzago, Cantore, Anfossi, Assiano, Lambro and Via Padova.
Hard on the heels of the publication of Greenpeace's data came a strongly worded response from Water Alliance, the network bringing together thirteen public integrated water service companies in Lombardy. "It is my duty to reassure Lombard citizens, who have been unsettled by a sensational piece of fake news. The water coming out of the taps in our region poses no risk whatsoever to health," states spokesperson Enrico Pezzoli.
The data provided by the thirteen Lombard water service operators, he argues, had been "completely misrepresented" because they refer "almost exclusively to raw groundwater. However, it is a gross error to confuse this water with the water we all drink! Before reaching the tap, as should be well known, it is in fact subjected to drinking water treatment processes precisely regulated by current legislation," he continues. In particular, he explains, to address PFAS, almost all of the water is treated using activated carbon filtration systems, even though the statutory limits for these substances have not yet come into force.
"We are dismayed by the insinuation that the water we bring into people's homes is dangerous: it is a wrong and misleading message," Pezzoli concludes. "On the contrary, we must encourage citizens to consume it: tap water is perfectly safe and helps to reduce both plastic consumption and household expenditure."
The Lombardy region also hits back, describing its water service as "one of the most efficient and reliable in the entire country." "From 2016 to 2019, investments totalling 1.5 billion euros were made," explains the assessore for water resource use, Massimo Sertori. "In the three-year period 2020–2023, planned interventions amount to 2.2 billion euros, a good part of which has already been implemented. As regards the entire drinking water supply chain from source to delivery, checks and analyses are carried out both by the management company and by the ATS (Azienda Sanitaria) in a very precise and rigorous manner."
Faced with the controversy, the environmental organisation replied: "Greenpeace has only released the data that the bodies themselves provided, using the same wording 'drinking water' that most of the bodies consulted used. If the water managers have nothing to fear, they can begin right away to make all data relating to the presence of PFAS in drinking water available to the public in a transparent manner — something that does not always happen today. It would also be appropriate for public bodies to make every effort to identify the source of PFAS found in high concentrations, adopting all necessary measures."
The PFAS levels found in Lombardy, Greenpeace underlines, are almost everywhere lower than those recorded in Veneto in 2013, when the emergency linked to pollution released by the Miteni factory broke out. But to what extent can they be considered safe? On this issue the debate is still open.
At present, the production and use of PFAS is not prohibited in Italy. Following the Veneto scandal, the Ministry of Health identified maximum values in water intended for human consumption of 300 nanograms per litre for PFOS and 500 ng/l for PFOA and other PFAS, while the Istituto superiore di sanità recommended not exceeding 500 ng/l for PFBA and PFBS. European directive 2020/2184, on the other hand, sets a threshold value of 100 nanograms per litre for the total presence of 24 of these substances (which, it should be noted, number in the thousands). Italy is implementing this directive through legislative decree 18/2023, which was approved in February of this year but will not come into force until 2026. Among the samples examined by Greenpeace, 75 exceed the concentration of 100 nanograms per litre. Around fifteen explicitly refer to water fed into the network or after treatment.
When these new thresholds come into force, will citizens be fully protected? Greenpeace argues they will not, citing the most recent data produced by the European Food Safety Authority (Efas) and pointing to countries such as Denmark and the United States, which have set far stricter limits for certain PFAS (2 ng/l for PFOA, PFOS, PFNA and PFHxS and 4 ng/l for PFOA and PFOS respectively). According to the environmental organisation, the only acceptable level in drinking water is zero.
Compared with its first version, this article has been updated to include the clarifications subsequently provided by Water Alliance and the Lombardy region.
