No drinking water in French communes due to ‘forever chemicals’

Residents in a small area of northeast France have been without drinking water for almost six months due to ‘forever chemical’ pollution, prompting local campaigners to request a legal investigation.

In the small communes of Arrentès-de-Corcieux and Tendon in Vosges (Grand Est), the water has been deemed not suitable for consumption after PFAS levels were found to be up to seven times higher than regulations allow.

Residents are now required to buy bottled water for drinking and cooking. It comes after the village of Tendon had already advised that people considered to be ‘vulnerable’ avoid the water. This included older or frail people, children under two, pregnant or breastfeeding women, or the immunocompromised.

PFAS are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are often dubbed ‘forever chemicals’ due to their resistance to being broken down in the environment and human body. 

They are used primarily in cookware products due to their waterproof and grease-fighting properties. However they can build up in the body, and have been linked to health problems including cancer, immune system issues, and development delays.

Carbon solution

In the medium term, the local municipality is aiming for the drinking water supply to be restored by April, through the implementation of an emergency carbon filter.

“We have a carbon filter that will be used to treat PFAS molecules in the public water supply,” said the mayor of Arrentès-de-Corcieux, Virginie Lalevée, to FranceInfo. “It's infuriating because we would never have imagined, in a small municipality with a largely natural landscape, that our water would be polluted.”

Legal complaint

Local environmental campaigners believe that industrial waste spread into mud close to the communes’ water catchment area is to blame for the contamination, and have submitted a complaint.

“We believe there is a direct link between these spills and the water contamination,” said Jean-François Fleck, vice-president of ecological campaign association Vosges Nature Environnement, to FranceInfo.

“We have filed a complaint requesting a judicial investigation to shed light on the reality of the responsibility for the spills. We want to determine who is responsible, and above all, who has failed to comply with the regulations in force.”

“The regulations state that sludge containing toxic substances that could affect ecosystems or harm public health is prohibited from being dumped. So how was it possible this was authorised?"

Also campaigning are the environmental groups the Association de sauvegarde des vallées et de prévention des pollutions, and Lorraine Nature Environnement, as well as several residents, reports ICI Lorraine.

Other PFAS cases

The communes are far from the only areas in France to have their tap water banned for public consumption due to water sample testing finding too-high levels of PFAS.

In May 2025, 11 communes in Haut-Rhin also received a similar tap water ban.

In 2024, a major study into tap water quality across France found that more than two in five samples were contaminated with the chemical, after a 2023 report warned that “French regulations are still lacking on industrial emissions of PFAS and data on their monitoring”.

In 2025, data from the Health Ministry was used to create a map showing other areas in which PFAS had been identified at too-high levels.