Paris authorities scotch rumours of radioactive tap water as 'fake news'

As France faces a scorching new heatwave this week, Paris authorities have urged residents to keep calm and carry on drinking tap water after rumours spread that the capital’s water supplies had been contaminated with harmful levels of the radioactive isotope tritium.

The Paris region prefecture insisted the city’s tap water did not present any risk for public health and said rumours circulating on social media were “fake news”.

City water authorities reinforced the message: “Tap water can be drunk without restriction,” it wrote on Twitter.

The scare was originally sparked by a report by the French organisation the Association for the Control of Radioactivity in the West (ACRO), which published a report claiming that 6.4 million people in the Paris region as well as the Loire and Vienne areas were drinking tap water contaminated with tritium.

The report was based on health ministry data and had a map showing average tritium levels in tap water across the country. Although they are higher in the mentioned regions, the report insisted “no value exceeds the quality criteria (100 Bq/L) introduced by the authorities”.

However, the rumour spread on social media after a message, allegedly sent by a Paris “nurse and masseur” to her friends went viral on WhatsApp. In the message, the tritium had become a “titanium presence” and the sender’s friends were advised not to drink tap water.

As France prepared for temperatures to top 40C in large areas of the country and warned that wine and agricultural production had been hit by last month’s heatwave, the Paris water company sought to reassure customers.

“Drinking Paris water poses no health threat; tritium is present in infinitely small quantities in water without any risk in the short, medium or long term,” tweeted the water authority Eau de Paris.

“The quantities measured in Paris water are much lower than these levels,” it added.

As the wave of panic spread, the city emergency service the SAMU reported it had received numerous calls from worried residents.

The Île-de-France regional health authority also sought to reassure people. In a statement, it said the level for tritium levels in France is set at 100 Bq/l (becquerels per litre), much lower than the 10,000 Bq/l recommended by the World Health Organization, and that radioactivity was all around us.

“Humans are permanently exposed to natural radioactivity. In France, according to the Institute for Radio protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) water and foodstuffs (namely fruits, vegetables, milk products, meat, fish and seafood) make up 11% of the average radioactivity the population receives. The rest comes from natural surroundings or atmosphere, but also from medical procedures (x-rays),” it added.

Tritium is a rare radioactive isotope of hydrogen sometimes called triton; titanium is a strong metal.