PFAS pollution in Uccle was known to authorities for years

Brussels Environment and the municipality of Uccle were aware of PFAS chemical contamination at the former Sicli factory site since 2023, according to environmental groups.

Samples were taken that year showing high levels of contamination, RTBF reports, and some environmental groups, including We Are Nature, said authorities acted on the results too late.

The high levels of pollution were only revealed to the public last week, on 20 June, stemming from the factory’s work producing fire extinguishers.

Authorities then announced their intent to implement an action plan: an exclusion zone was established, accompanied by a campaign of measures and certain precautions.

Households within the affected perimeter were told not to eat any homegrown fruit or vegetables from their garden.

But We Are Nature points out that the Brussels region already knew the area was contaminated since 2023, when Sicli commissioned an external expert to carry out a soil and groundwater survey.

On 18 June 2024, an environmental permit for the factory was nonetheless issued by the Brussels region, which does not mention the presence of PFAS and does not provide for any specific precautions.

“Preliminary studies carried out in 2022 concluded that there was no problem, even though a new soil analysis was supposedly under way,” We Are Nature said.

“It’s incomprehensible that these alarming data were not taken into account in the environmental permit application process and that the environmental permit was issued without any precautions in this regard.”

The 2023 external groundwater survey involved 10 soil samples and seven groundwater samples on and around the factory site in Uccle.

The soil measurements revealed concentrations more than 18 times the intervention standard for PFAS.

When it comes to groundwater, under the future European directive, one litre of water cannot contain more than 100 nanograms of the sum of 20 PFAS. At the Brussels site, PFAS concentrations are more than a thousand times above this standard, which is already applied in the region.

Groundwater is not connected to the drinking water network.

PFAS pollution of the soil can lead to contamination of food, particularly through vegetables grown in vegetable gardens or through eggs from chickens, as chickens feed on earthworms that absorb water from the soil.

There are several sensitive sites around the factory’s location, such as gardens, vegetable gardens, a school, a nursery and a pétanque court, and the site is also located in a flood risk area.

As to why the environmental permit for Sicli was granted even though the 2023 external study raised serious red flags, Brussels Environment points to the company’s bankruptcy as complicating the matter.

“The purpose of the environmental permit is to impose preventive measures to avoid future pollution in the context of the operation of a business, the renewal of a permit or the establishment of a new economic activity,” the agency said in a response.

“It doesn’t regulate existing or historical pollution at the site, which is dealt with directly by soil regulations. As soon as the soil survey revealed PFAS pollution, the Brussels Environment inspection department requested a detailed study to determine the extent of the pollution.

"Sicli was in the process of carrying out this analysis when it went bankrupt. These are two independent procedures being conducted in parallel."

Brussels Environment said that the impact assessment received showed that measures had been taken to prevent pollution, in particular the storage of products and waste in sealed containers placed in bunded areas.

“At the time of the soil assessment, the external expert did not identify any immediate danger to local residents and did not propose any emergency measures for the neighbouring land. However, he did recommend a detailed study, which was requested by Brussels Environment and was underway (at Sicli's expense) before the bankruptcy,” the agency said.

“In cases like this, communication is always planned for after the detailed study, which is meant to figure out the extent of the pollution and whether it has spread beyond the site. Plus, the company has to agree to any communication.”

PFAS has been subject to restrictions in the EU for more than 10 years, under the European regulation on persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The Stockholm Convention also regulates the global elimination of PFOA, which has been banned by the POP Regulation since 4 July 2020.

We Are Nature and Céline Bertrand, environmental health specialist at the Scientific Society of General Medicine, recommend biomonitoring of residents in the Sicli area.

“Given this situation, We Are Nature Brussels is calling for biomonitoring of the population living within the exclusion zone or using the sites located there, including users of schools, nurseries and the petanque club (which do not appear to be included in the zone and should be added),” the organisation said.

“This biomonitoring must be fully funded by the public authorities for reasons of fairness and health efficiency.”

For the time being, local residents are being asked not to eat fruit and vegetables from their gardens. They will receive a letter explaining the situation and an information meeting is scheduled for 2 July.