They give to Prosecutor's Office the contamination of the water of Son Saletes, in Sencelles

PalmaThe GOB has filed a complaint with the Balearic Islands Prosecutor's Office to investigate the contamination by synthetic chemicals known as 'forever chemicals' (PFAS) detected in the Son Saletes supply network, in Sencelles. This situation forced the City Council in July to declare the water unfit for human consumption after detecting concentrations of these chemicals higher than admissible values. The affected population cannot use this water for drinking, cooking, preparing food or baby bottles, washing fruits and vegetables, or making ice, and must resort to alternative sources of drinking water, environmentalists have recalled.

"We are not facing a simple, isolated episode of contamination. The current situation comes after more than 20 years of complaints, mobilizations, analyses, and grievances related to the discharges into the Solleric stream from the industrial laundry located upstream of the affected area," they explained. The document submitted to the Prosecutor's Office details complaints dating back at least to 2001, as well as evidence of impact on wells and groundwater.

The complaint focuses on two issues. On the one hand, it calls for a priority investigation into whether there is a link between the current PFAS contamination and the discharges from the industrial laundry. The GOB does not consider this link proven, but believes that the accumulated evidence is too significant to be ignored. According to the organization, the facility has made authorized discharges into the stream for years, and these discharges have been the subject of repeated complaints for possible contamination.

On the other hand, the GOB considers it essential to investigate what the competent authorities have done over all these years. "The problem was known: there are records of complaints, analyses, municipal interventions, complaints from residents and environmental groups, actions by Water Resources, and successive authorizations and renewals of discharges," they recalled.

The complaint asks the Prosecutor's Office to request the files related to authorization, inspection, analyses, complaints, and controls of the industrial laundry, as well as the complete analyses that led to the declaration of the Son Saletes water being unfit for consumption.

Based on this documentation, it requests an investigation into the origin of the contamination, the possible contribution of industrial discharges, and any eventual responsibilities arising from the actions or omissions of the bodies responsible for its control.

Persistent contaminants

PFAS are persistent contaminants and some have particularly significant toxicological relevance. The IARC, a specialized body of the WHO, has classified PFOA as a human carcinogen and PFOS as a possible carcinogen. In the case of Son Saletes, the GOB does not state in its complaint that specific effects on people's health have occurred, but we would consider it "unacceptable" to trivialize contamination that has already deprived a part of the population of the normal use of a resource as essential as drinking water.