Key figures: PFAS
PFAS, ultra-resistant chemicals used in many everyday products, cause long-term contamination of the environment and living organisms. Despite stricter European and French regulations, their persistence and widespread presence pose a major health and ecological challenge.
PFAS: key figures for understanding these eternal pollutants
In accordance with its public utility status and its ‘Environmental Protection’ accreditation, OiEau places data management and knowledge enhancement at the heart of its missions, in order to produce and disseminate reliable, educational information that is accessible to all.
It is in this spirit that OiEau freely disseminates key figures at national and international level, accompanied by detailed metadata, via its french website chiffrecle.oieau.fr.
These figures, which can be reused under a Creative Commons licence, are developed in accordance with an editorial charter guaranteeing their quality, with the support of the French Office for Biodiversity, and are based on a rigorous process of monitoring, verification and publication.
This format makes it possible to quickly raise awareness and provide information on a variety of issues: water quality, flooding, sanitation, water footprint, etc. The aim is to promote concise and accessible information from reliable sources to educate professionals and the general public about the challenges of water management.
Today, discover our infographic on PFAS, these so-called eternal pollutants, which brings together various key figures on the subject: the scale of the phenomenon, monitoring in French waters (in 2023), and the regulatory framework (in 2025).
PFAS: pollutants under close surveillance
It is now widely known that the exceptional persistence of PFAS in the environment and their ability to accumulate make them a major challenge for public health and the ecosystem.
In response to these risks, authorities have tightened regulations, particularly at the European level, where some of these substances have been added to the list of priority pollutants in the Water Framework Directive. In 2023, the revision of the WFD established maximum thresholds for several PFAS in order to better control their presence and promote their elimination.
France has also responded by implementing a National PFAS Action Plan 2023-2027 to combat pollution from these substances. The plan aims to reduce industrial discharges, identify sources of contamination and strengthen monitoring of drinking water quality. At the same time, ANSES (the French National Health Security Agency) is conducting in-depth studies to better understand the health risks associated with exposure to PFAS and assess the need for new restrictions.
However, in order to understand their impact, guide public policy and take effective action against PFAS pollution, it is essential to collect and analyse accurate, harmonised and accessible data on PFAS. This is why the Water Information System (WIS), notably through the Sandre (National Water Data and Reference Service) repositories, for which OiEau provides technical secretariat services, plays a central role in structuring and disseminating this data in France.
In January 2025, even though some PFAS had been monitored for many years, Sandre had to integrate new parameters to cope with the very wide variety of existing molecules, with the members of the Aquaref group and the French Ministry of Health. As a result, no fewer than 30 new substances were added to the reference database, enabling the various WIS partners to exchange and store new observation data.
FAQ
PFAS: find out more
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as ‘eternal poluttants’, are synthetic fluorinated organic chemical compounds comprising several thousand substances.
PFAS, used since the 1940s for their fire-retardant, waterproofing and non-stick properties, are found in many everyday products (food packaging, textiles, cosmetics, kitchen utensils, fire-fighting foams, etc.). Their high chemical stability, although useful, poses a major problem: they degrade very slowly and accumulate in the environment, contaminating water, soil, wildlife and even the human body. Studies indicate that prolonged exposure, even at low doses, could cause chronic health effects, such as endocrine disruption, a weakened immune system and an increased risk of certain cancers.