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EU Ramps Up PFAS Action as Dutch Waste Processor Withdraws Discharge Request

The push aims to curb releases that threaten drinking water sources such as the Maas.

Overview

  • European Commissioner Jessika Roswall, visiting the PFAS‑contaminated Soesterberg airbase on Thursday, backed rapid EU restrictions with narrow exemptions after the chemicals agency ECHA urged bloc‑wide measures.
  • CFS in Weert said it will withdraw its application to release about 5 kilograms of PFAS a year into the sewer and will install extra filters and conduct more environmental research after sharp criticism from local officials and water companies.
  • Drinking‑water suppliers Evides and Dunea still want a new strict permit and tighter interim enforcement, warning any discharge can reach the Maas, which is used to make tap water.
  • Limburg’s provincial government had prepared to grant a permit on the view that emissions were unavoidable, but the national inspectorate ILT advised against it and called the plan a blank cheque to emit PFAS.
  • At Soesterberg, two hotspots of soil and groundwater pollution require a costly cleanup before homes can be built, which Utrecht sees as a chance to build scarce Dutch know‑how and to support a total PFAS ban.