Waste from Greater Paris near Rouen: new analyzes will be carried out
By Joe Hue
Published on
A cobblestone in the pond that makes waves. The association Les Pieds dans l’eau – Bardouville in danger, which is fighting against a new waste dump in Greater Paris in a loop of the Seine, has unveiled at a press conferenceThursday, November 10, 2022, at Rouen (Seine Maritime) soil analysis results. The samples were taken from the quarries of the neighboring towns ofAnneville Ambourville and Yville-sur-Seine already receiving this waste, one or two kilometers as the crow flies from the Beaulieu site in Mauny on which the prefecture has, by decree of April 25authorized the Environment and Minerals Society (SEM) to bury no less than 390,000 m3 of “inert waste”, or 729,300 tons of rubble representing the equivalent of 130 Olympic swimming pools.
Waste that arrived by barge on the Seine, coming from tunnels dug in the Ile-de-France basements for the new metro lines of the future Greater Paris, which exceeded “the rates in a hallucinating way” with a cocktail of lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, arsenic and other heavy metals. Pollution “up to 100 times superior to standards”, points out Ladislas Lefebvrethe secretary of the association.
“Faulty” and “anxiogenic” data
The prefecture, denouncing “the controversy” and “erroneous data”, questioned these analyzes in a press release from November 15she says ” after analysis by the State services of these results – which were not shared before the media coverage – it turns out that these data particularly anxiety-provoking does not correspond to reality. “And to sue the association as an amateur by pointing out the fact that the analyzes were carried out on ” raw earthand not values measured after leaching test”, which would render them obsolete and prevent any comparison “with the limited values set by the regulations”.
The leaching (Latin leachate, “lye”) is the treatment of a mixture with a liquid to extract the soluble constituents. The prefecture uses coffee picture : “The analysis on raw material would be the analysis of the ground coffee that we put in the filter, while the analysis after leaching would be the analysis of the liquid coffee that we drink once it has passed . The contents are thus 40 to 200 times lower after leaching test. »
In practice, the earth must be set to turn in the water for 24 hours before analysis then filtered. Contacted, the Caen laboratory AgroQual recipient of these samples confirmed that they were analyzed “as supplied”, but that the soil having been stored in the open air for several weeks, a “natural leaching” would have been carried out.
In its press release, the prefecture specifies that “the land authorized in CBN, CEMEX and FCH are either inert earth or natural (unpolluted) earth” and that “the analyzes must be carried out at least for each barge, or by batch (1000 to 2500 tonnes), by accredited laboratories”. It also reports “regular” inspections of the facilities and soil samples for analysis “unexpectedly” which “did not show any non-compliance”.
End of inadmissibility of the Prefecture and the operators
Asked about the frequency of these controls put forward and after a request for analyzes carried out or received by the services of the State, these kick in touch. After wanting to bury the association’s analyses, the prefecture is now asking for the details: it declares that“before any new communication on this file”it is “pending the transmission of all the elements on which the association is based, and their analysis by the State services. The prefecture conditions an appointment with the members to this prior dispatch. And to add to the association: “The will of the State services is to clarify the subject. As it stands, the absence of data does not in any way allow us to move forward on the merits of the case. If it were established that unsuitable elements have been identified by your analyzes (without those in the possession of our departments having identified them), it seems essential to us that these be quickly brought to the attention of the departments. competent. »
“No comment” either on the side of the operatorswho are content to ensure that they “respect all of the prefectural decrees”, claim that checks are carried out without providing proof or even being able to say who carries them out… And refer to the Regional Department for the Environment, development and housing (DREAL) “which audits them once a year”. The snake bites its tail.
“We have been asking for an appointment at the DREAL for months, without success. But we will not communicate our results to them without being able to ask them questions. ” To pay Stanislas Lefebvre, “there is no traceability of barges or land. Contrary to what the prefecture says, the analyzes are not carried out neither sending nor receiving barges. The controls of the DREAL, which is unable to carry out its missions for lack of resources, do not take place only once a year. We are not against the prefecture or the DREAL, but we find it abnormal that CEMEX, CBN or FCH can lie to State services. The inaction of the prefecture is seriously damaging health and the environment. There are not any precautionary principle, it is the economy that takes precedence. After this alert, why did they not ask for the suspension of the shipment of land? Or suspended fishing in nearby bodies of water? »
And concerning their analyses, “the prefecture wants people to believe that they are bad. Their goal is to hush up the affair. Let her produce her analyses! The lands were already leached, since the runoff had been carried out on the samples: between placing on the dock, loading, transport and unloading, the land spent more than two months outdoors. But to “close the debate”, the association will proceed to new analyzes. The “feet in the water”, but also the feet on the ground, with leaching this time.
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