The Brussels Minister for the Environment, Alain Maron (Ecolo), will face a hearing in the Brussels parliamentary environment committee on Wednesday by fellow MPs over growing PFAS pollution concerns, his office has confirmed.
Approached by The Brussels Times on Monday morning for a comment on the developing crisis, Maron's office confirmed he was expecting to appear before the Brussels Parliament this week. Belga News Agency reports that Maron will now answer questions from fellow MPs on Wednesday.
First and most importantly, Minister Maron points out that Vivaqua has confirmed that the water distributed in Brussels is of good quality," his spokesperson said in a statement.
"The inter-municipal company has not detected any problems. There is therefore no cause for concern. And although he is not responsible for Vivaqua, Minister Maron will of course be making this clear to the Brussels Parliament on Wednesday."
Several media outlets reported that in January, Céline Tellier, Christie Morreale, Alain Maron and Elke Van den Brandt were informed by the Flemish Minister for the Environment Zuhal Demir that the drinking water in Halle, supplied by Vivaqua, did not meet reference standards.
Amid rising concern for water levels in Brussels, Maron stressed on Friday that "the people of Brussels can be reassured about the quality of their water," while Vivaqua's Production Director Alain De Lombaerts told BX1 that the PFAS levels recorded in the water here are "well below the threshold."
On Monday morning, Maron's spokesperson Simon Vandamme told The Brussels Times that Maron had "no jurisdiction over pollution at Halle since Vivaqua is an inter-municipal company and the Flemish Region is responsible for monitoring the quality of drinking water on its territory."
However, Vandamme added that, as soon as Maron was informed, at the end of January, he made contact with Vivaqua. "The Minister was quickly assured (on 2 February) that everything was in order in Brussels and that the Halle problem was being dealt with in consultation with De Watergroep and the Flemish administrations concerned."
Political storm
But on Monday, political groups – including MR, Les Engagés, CD&V, PTB and the N-VA – were calling on the French-speaking Greens minister to appear before the Brussels Parliamentary Environment Commission to provide an explanation and to not "create a panic."
The issue of PFAS, also known as "forever pollutants," has been in the spotlight since a report by RTBF last week revealed excessively high concentrations of these chemicals in the drinking water in Chièvres, Hainaut.
The Walloon Environment Minister, Céline Tellier (Ecolo), subsequently announced detailed environmental analyses in the areas of Chièvres, Nimy and Feluy. She also advised residents of Chièvres, Leuze-en-Hainaut, Beloeil, Ath, Mons, Écaussinnes and Seneffe to refrain from consuming locally-produced eggs and vegetables as a precautionary measure.
