Soil samples were taken at four locations on the Left Bank of Antwerp. One of them exceeds the remediation standard for PFOS. ‘The pollution decreases the further away from the source of the pollution the location is.’
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Following the alarming measurement results from the municipality of Zwijndrecht, which showed high concentrations of PFOS at several locations in the municipality, the city of Antwerp also had twelve soil samples taken at four locations on the Left Bank a week ago. (DS June 2). At the border of the Sint-Annabos, which is next to the Oosterweelwerf, the concentration of PFOS was above the soil remediation standard, which means that the soil is so polluted that it should be purified. After all, above this standard there is a ‘significant risk of negative effects for people or the environment’, according to the responsibility of Ovam, the Flemish waste company.
The city therefore wants to ‘urgently start a descriptive soil investigation around that measuring point, in collaboration with Ovam. That will allow us to take many more samples and thus also define a good perimeter’, says Antwerp alderman for the Environment Tom Meeuws (Vooruit).
At the three other locations examined, the PFOS concentration remained below the remediation standard. It concerned a residential area next to primary school De Stroom, the football fields of City Pirates and a corner of the Galgenweelpark. ‘The results show that the pollution decreases the further the location is from the source of the pollution’, says alderman Tom Meeuws. ‘The standards have been exceeded very close to the factory, but there is no human activity there.’
Allotments
At the measurement location at Galgenweelpark, where a residential area is currently being developed, the measured PFOS concentrations were very low. ‘That is reassuring news’, says Meeuws.
However, the city council is not completely satisfied. Eight of the twelve soil samples still exceeded the so-called ‘guideline value for soil quality’, which means that the soil could not simply be used during any works, and that PFOS is indeed present in the soil. The city wants to ‘consult with Ovam and the Agency for Care and Health as soon as possible’ for these locations. ‘I think we should have samples taken in vulnerable places on the Left Bank, where children play, but also in allotments on the Right Bank,’ says Meeuws.
This should make it possible to evaluate any ‘advice and usage restrictions regarding play areas, vegetable gardens or the keeping of free-range laying hens’, the ships say. ‘We insist on quick and targeted advice.’
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