Agriculture is not solely responsible for the presence of glyphosate in water

© REMY GABALDA/AFP Demonstration against glyphosate in support of activists on trial, August 17, 2017 in Foix in Ariège.

Hated by environmentalists and virtually banned by European legislation, glyphosate is still present in the rivers of the old continent. Why ? A recent study by the German University of Tübingen, published in the Water Research, explains that the traces of this herbicide found in water could be attributable to additives present in cleaning products such as detergent or laundry detergent.

Long considered an essential tool for maintaining agricultural yields, glyphosate and the dangers it causes have been singled out for several years now, and attempts are being made to get rid of it by all possible means. To do this, farmers are being made to suffer, as they are considered to be the primary spreaders of glyphosate. What if they were not the source of the problem ? Or at least not the only one ?

As reported by Le Point in an article dated August 1, 2024, the German study published in Water Research puts our environmental and health overzealousness into perspective. What does she say ?

The most widely used herbicide in the world

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world, marketed since the 1970s under the brand name Roundup by Monsanto, now owned by Bayer. It is used not only in agriculture to eliminate weeds, but also in the maintenance of public spaces and private gardens. The problem is that its massive use has led to excessive pollution, particularly in aquatic ecosystems. Many studies carried out in the United States and Europe show a worrying presence of glyphosate in rivers. However, this is not only an environmental issue, but also a public health issue, since river water often supplies drinking water supplies.

This is broadly what we knew about it until now, which led us to make the link between the presence of glyphosate and intensive agriculture.

United States: flexible legislation and contaminated rivers

In the United States, this link still holds, in part because regulations regarding the use of glyphosate are relatively relaxed. Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acknowledged environmental risks associated with this herbicide, the agency has long maintained that glyphosate is not carcinogenic to humans, thus supporting its continued use. A position that has not pleased everyone, of course.

A result, as shown by the study cited by Le Point, based on American data, the peaks in glyphosate and AMPA concentrations correspond to periods when farmers are spraying the herbicide, or when treating public spaces when the watershed is entirely urban. Professor Carolin Huhn, from the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, explains that “in soil and water, glyphosate is partially transformed into aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). Both substances can be washed away by precipitation and end up in rivers”. In other words, the American data tend to prove that our initial thinking was correct.

Europe: strict legislation… and contaminated rivers

Let’s now look at the old continent. There, the data studied by the researchers show that we find more glyphosate in the summer, while the herbicide’s spraying seasons are rather spring and fall. And in winter, a season during which glyphosate is logically not used, we still find large quantities. If we stopped there, it would probably be enough to retort that glyphosate actually “remains” for a time after being used, which means that we always find a certain concentration in other seasons. Except that the oddities don't stop there: the study also shows that in Europe, particularly in France, glyphosate concentrations are rather low around agricultural areas, but very high “in treatment plants connected to separate sewer networks receiving mainly domestic wastewater”.

The worst thing is that the concentration rates recorded in the waters of the old continent are the same as those recorded across the Atlantic, while Americans use the herbicide much more than we do. Whose fault is it ?

From glyphosate to AMPA, and from AMPA to glyphosate

We said above that in soils and water, glyphosate is partially transformed into AMPA. However, it would seem that this is a vicious circle.

Finding traces of the herbicide near treatment areas, or even near households, the researchers looked at aminopolyphosphonates (of which AMPA is a by-product), massively used in laundry and detergents for their bleaching and descaling properties. A truly European way of doing things.

So, aminopolyphosphonates would be the main source of AMPA in wastewater. And, it may well be that glyphosate could rise from the ashes of this AMPA… In a press release, the German university behind the study concludes: “The first laboratory tests are now complete and confirm the hypothesis of the formation of glyphosate in wastewater treatment plants from this laundry additive.”

This would ultimately explain the persistent presence of glyphosate in the waters of the old continent, even though Europe has struggled to give birth to its legislation around the herbicide. Does this mean that the latter are useless? No. As we have seen above, American data clearly show that the spreading of glyphosate for agriculture is also responsible for significant concentrations. This means, however, that we are using chemicals indiscriminately, and that environmental and public health advocates will have to fight on several fronts at once if they want to get rid of glyphosate for good.

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