Swiss Drinking Water Contaminated By Chemicals

Almost half of Swiss groundwater has been contaminated by ‘forever’ chemicals, as per a report from Euro News.

Samples of water were taken at over 500 measuring stations and The National Groundwater Observatory found that the potentially harmful chemicals are spread wide in Switzerland’s main drinking water resource.

In one positive, though, Swiss limit values were only exceeded at one station, according to the Federal Office for the Environment.

Forever chemicals are a large group of human-made chemicals that are used in many products and they get their name from the fact they don’t break down in the environment.

Harmful to health, they have been linked to conditions like cancer, thyroid disease, and pregnancy-induced hypertension and can be ingested through water, food and the air.

According to the Federal Office for the Environment, chemicals from foam in firefighting extinguishers are one of the main causes of the chemicals appearing in the water in Switzerland, whilst landfills and wastewater can also be attributed for their presence.

Water issues in the EU and UK

Water contamination is a growing issue in the EU and in the UK, with the latter particularly suffering with contaminated waterways such as rivers and lakes.

Regular sewage discharge from water treatment companies has led to unsafe seas and rivers, polluting the environment and damaging the local habitats of the species that live there.

On a number of occasions this year we have seen seas unfit to be swam in in the UK, including to levels where they would make people ill if they were to take a dip.

In Switzerland, the cause of chemicals in their water seems to be something a little different to in the UK, but there is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed.

Thankfully, most limits were not exceeded and so that can be at least one positive to take from the story, though in the main there will still be concern.