8 July 2026
German broadcaster WDR has reported on PFAS pollution from the Leverkusen-Bürrig landfill and its consequences for the Dutch drinking water supply. In its article and television report, WDR shows how PFAS-contaminated water from the landfill enters the Rhine via wastewater treatment. RIWA-Rijn calls for these substances to be removed at the source, before they reach the river.
According to WDR, PFAS from the Leverkusen-Bürrig landfill are currently not removed from the wastewater with activated carbon filters before the water is discharged into the Rhine. The operator, Currenta, states that it is working on measures and treatment methods to gradually reduce the PFAS load in the wastewater.
For Dutch drinking water companies, PFAS pollution in the Rhine is a major concern. Around five million people in the Netherlands depend on Rhine water for their drinking water. Particularly in the western part of the Netherlands, it is not always possible to produce drinking water from bank-filtered groundwater, partly due to the influence of salt water. River water is therefore abstracted and extensively treated.
In the WDR report, RIWA-Rijn director Gerard Stroomberg demonstrates how much effort is needed to turn Rhine water into reliable drinking water. Drinking water companies have to invest more and more in treatment, including activated carbon filters. This is costly and does not address the problem at its source.
RIWA-Rijn stresses that the solution does not lie in ever more advanced treatment at the end of the chain, but in preventing emissions in the first place. PFAS hardly break down in the environment and therefore remain present in rivers, groundwater and drinking water resources for a long time. The aim must be to prevent harmful substances from entering the Rhine.
The situation in Leverkusen-Bürrig once again underlines the importance of international cooperation in the Rhine catchment area. What is discharged upstream can have consequences downstream for drinking water companies and millions of consumers. RIWA-Rijn therefore continues to advocate source-based measures, stricter prevention and the use of available technologies to remove PFAS from wastewater before it reaches the Rhine.
Read the full WDR article: “PFAS aus Leverkusen: Gefahr für Trinkwasser in den Niederlanden”.