Herk-de-Stad (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – PFAS pollution in Herk-de-Stad is limited to the fire station north of N2. Alderman Erwin Vermeulen (N-VA) confirmed no pollution in residential areas. Bert Swisen addressed cleanup funding concerns.
The PFAS pollution in Herk-de-Stad is only at the fire station on the north side of the road between Hasselt and Diest. According to the officials, all the rules that were in place because of the pollution have been lifted.
The local official in charge of the environment, Erwin Vermeulen, said that they didn’t find any PFAS pollution on the south side of the road, where people live. He mentioned that since there’s no pollution near homes or public places, they don’t need to keep the rules in place anymore. The pollution hasn’t spread to their area.
“Further research has shown that the PFAS pollution has been limited to the fire station on the north side of the N2,”
Explains Alderman Erwin Vermeulen (N-VA).
“No pollution has been found on the south side of the N2, where the residential area begins. The restrictive measures are therefore no longer necessary.”
Is PFAS pollution in Herk-de-Stad still a concern?
The fire station in Herk-de-Stad has been there since 1995. It’s in an industrial area. Because it’s been there for so long, people were worried that the soil and water under the ground might be dirty because of the fire-fighting foam used there. So, they looked at the soil to see if there were a lot of PFAS chemicals.
According to officials, if there were PFAS chemicals, they would need to clean up the area. This is part of a bigger plan by the Flemish Government to find out how much PFAS is in the region and to make sure they do things to keep people and the environment safe.
In June 2021, the Flemish Government initiated a large project to identify where in Flanders there would be a concentration of PFAS. PFAS are substances which are applied everywhere because they won’t allow water to penetrate through and they are slippery. But these chemicals are bad for the environment and people because they don’t go away easily and can build up in our bodies and the world around us.
They mentioned that one of the biggest ways PFAS gets into the environment is from fire-fighting foam. Firefighters use this foam to put out fires that are caused by fuel, and they also use it for practice. So, places like fire stations and training areas where they keep or use this foam were thought to be places where PFAS might be found. To find out how much PFAS there is, they looked at the soil in different places, including the fire station in Herk-de-Stad.
PFAS was first proven to be on the site of the fire station in 2022, and this raised concerns and investigations regarding how it appeared there and the potential effects it could have. The leader of the emergency services in South-West Limburg, Bert Swisen, stated that many are concerned about PFAS and the new government is considering creating a fund to cover cleanup of contaminated soil. But it’s not clear yet how that fund will work.
At the same time, there are still legal cases going on about the amount of PFAS found and what it means. Swisen said that the fire department only used firefighting chemicals that were allowed by law and that the pollution wasn’t a direct health risk. He reassured people that there was no immediate danger at the fire station because no one drinks the water from that area and no food is grown there.
