Forever chemical increases sharply in Swiss water bodies

Eternity chemical increases sharply in Swiss waters Keystone-SDA

The pollution of Swiss waters with a 'forever chemical' has increased massively over the last 25 years. A new study shows that concentrations of trifluoroacetate (TFA) have increased four- to six-fold since the mid-1990s.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and the University of Bern expect a further increase in the coming years. This was announced by Empa on Tuesday.

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What this means for humans and the environment has not yet been conclusively clarified, according to Empa. Although the health effects of TFA have hardly been researched to date, individual studies indicate possible long-term toxic effects.

In view of the increase in this chemical, the researchers are urging caution. “We should therefore act according to the precautionary principle and limit the use of precursors as much as possible,” Empa researcher Stefan Reimann was quoted as saying in the press release.

How it ends up in the water

In order to track down the origin of the pollution, the researchers combined years of measurements with a complex computer model.

They identified the growing use of hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) as the main driver of the increase. These gases are used as refrigerants and propellants and are actually considered a climate-friendly replacement for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). However, there is a downside to this supposed progress: HFOs decompose rapidly in the atmosphere – forming TFA, among other things.

In addition to the air, there is a second entry pathway: the soil. The decomposition of certain pesticides also produces TFA, which is washed away directly into bodies of water.

TFA is the smallest molecule in the group of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFAS), which are also known as forever chemicals. These are very difficult to break down in the environment.

Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

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