The announcement comes after a rumour swept French social media claiming that the city's water was polluted with tritium and was unsafe to drink.
The local authorities for Ile de France, which covers the greater Paris region, said: “The levels observed in the tap water to date do not show any risk to public health. Tap water can therefore be consumed without restriction.”
Démenti sur la présence de #tritium dans l'eau potable : aucun arrêté préfectoral n'a été pris par le préfet de Paris.
Les valeurs observées à ce jour ne montrent pas de risque pour la santé publique @ARS_IDF .
?L’eau du robinet peut donc être consommée sans restriction.— Préfet d'Île-de-France, préfet de Paris (@Prefet75_IDF) 19 July 2019
The rumour, which was shared thousands of times on social media over the weekend, appears to have been started by an account claiming to belong to a nurse in a Parisian hospital and referring to the presence of “titanium” in water and the publication of a prefectoral decree.
Public health authority the l’Assistance publique des hôpitaux de Paris stated: “We have obviously not received any order of any kind relating to water contamination.”
The authority added that both it and the ambulance service had received many calls over the weekend from worried members of the public.
Tritium is present in minute quantities in drinking water, but Paris water authority Eau de Paris says the amount present in the city's water is well below safe levels.
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