The MAR2PROTECT project has appeared in the media Expresso 50 (Portugal) by the hand of our project coordinator Ana Pereiro who was interviewed about the recent discoveries of chemicals in european waters.

An European consortium of journalists (Forever Polution Project) has mapped -for the first time ever- the sites in Europe where there have been found concentrations of one of the most harmful chemicals: PFAS (perfluoroalkyladesubstances).

The first studies about these contaminants are just starting in Portugal and as Ana Pereiro said for this post in Expresso 50: “We should have started working on these studies 20 years ago”. 

These substances known as “eternal chemicals” are widely used and found in the environment: more than 17.000 sites across Europe are contaminated with PFAS and about 21.000 other sites are “presumably contaminated”. 

MAR2PROTECT takes into account the EU’s planned zero pollution targets for 2030 and the impact of climate change on groundwater contamination.

The project is also working on new ways to treat or clean up chemical compounds and pharmaceuticals present in wastewater. However, for these instruments to be widely applied “it is necessary that the European legislation requires it”.

Learn more in the following link