PFAS complaint filed over Son Saletes water in Sencelles
Environmental group GOB filed a complaint with the Balearic Islands Public Prosecutor's Office on 21 August over PFAS contamination in the water supply serving Son Saletes, Sencelles, Mallorca. It wants prosecutors to establish the source of the synthetic chemicals and examine possible responsibility for the pollution.
Sencelles Town Hall declared the water unfit for human consumption in July after tests found PFAS levels above permitted limits. Residents affected by the restriction must not use it for drinking, cooking, preparing food or baby bottles, washing fruit and vegetables, or making ice, and have to use alternative drinking-water supplies.
Industrial discharge link to be examined
GOB said the case follows more than 20 years of complaints, tests and public action concerning discharges into the Torrent de Solleric from an industrial laundry upstream of the affected area. Its submission records complaints dating back at least to 2001, as well as previous effects on wells and groundwater.
The group has not claimed that a connection between the current PFAS pollution and the laundry's discharges has been proven. However, it says the accumulated evidence warrants investigation, noting that authorised discharges to the torrent have continued for years and have repeatedly prompted pollution complaints.
Records and oversight under scrutiny
GOB has asked prosecutors to obtain the laundry's authorisation, inspection, testing, complaint and monitoring files, alongside the full analyses that led to the Son Saletes water being declared unsuitable for consumption.
It also seeks an examination of the action taken by the responsible authorities, including their handling of complaints, municipal interventions, residents' concerns, water-resource action and renewed discharge permits. The group says investigators should assess the pollution's origin, any contribution from industrial discharges and potential liability arising from action or inaction by oversight bodies.
PFAS are persistent pollutants. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a specialised agency of the World Health Organization, classifies PFOA as carcinogenic to humans and PFOS as possibly carcinogenic.
GOB's complaint does not allege specific health effects in individual people. It says, however, that the contamination should not be played down when it has prevented some residents from making normal use of drinking water.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com