The French corporation’s actions risk causing serious health impacts including birth defects among local community, as EU plans to weaken law that would hold companies accountable for environmental damage
A new investigation by Global Witness has uncovered evidence that Veolia, a French multinational specialising in waste and water management, may be putting public health and Colombia’s ecosystems at risk by pumping toxins from a large landfill into protected wetlands.
Secretly filmed video footage shows Veolia employees in 2023 pumping untreated liquid pollutants – known as leachate – from a large landfill site into nearby wetlands.
Independent tests conducted downstream after the dumping was witnessed detected dangerously high concentrations of heavy metals, including mercury at levels 25 times over the safe limit for aquatic life*. Mercury, a highly toxic pollutant, has been linked to severe health conditions, including birth defects and developmental delays in young children.
The testing results also showed other heavy metals present at high concentrations in the samples, including chromium, associated with cancer and liver and kidney damage; lead, linked to nerve and brain damage; and manganese, which can damage lungs.
Ana Caistor Arendar, Campaign Lead at Global Witness, said:
“This investigation uncovers yet another example of a multi-billion-dollar European corporation operating with a shocking disregard for the environment.
“The fact that this is happening while the EU considers rolling back laws which would hold corporations like Veolia to account is utterly shameful.”
Veolia denied that the mercury contamination could result from their activities, sharing internal monitoring data that showed no presence of the heavy metal.
However, expert analysis solicited by Global Witness – which suggested the videos showed “egregious and shameless malpractice” – concluded that Veolia’s testing was insufficient to rule out the landfill as the cause.
Wetlands downstream of the landfill supply drinking water to 200,000 people in the nearby city of Barrancabermeja. As well as serious risks to ecosystems and public health, the investigation highlights the danger faced by activists and experts in Barrancabermeja, where those speaking out against environmental abuses have endured targeted attacks. Colombia’s troubled history makes Barrancabermeja one of the most dangerous places on the planet to speak out about environmental threats.
Dr Yesid Blanco, a paediatrician who previously warned of a surge in birth defects among communities near the landfill, was forced to flee Colombia in 2018 after receiving death threats. Other local environmental activists have also been driven from the area under threat.
Colombia remains one of the deadliest countries in the world for environmental defenders. According to Global Witness reports, it has recorded the highest number of killings of land and environmental defenders globally since 2012.
Veolia took over management of the landfill in 2019. While there is no suggestion that the company is implicated in the threats against activists, the investigation raises urgent questions about corporate accountability and environmental responsibility.
The findings come as the European Union begins talks on weakening key corporate accountability measures, such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) -- legislation designed to hold EU companies accountable for environmental and human rights abuses committed overseas.
Beate Beller, Campaigner at Global Witness, said:
“A multi-billion-dollar European company has been caught pumping toxic material into a protected nature area, potentially contaminating the downstream water supply for hundreds of thousands of people. This is a clear example of toxic colonialism, where companies in wealthier nations flout environmental and human rights protections in poorer nations.
The European Union was on track to tackle this problem after agreeing a groundbreaking new law which would hold companies like Veolia accountable for harmful practices outside the EU.
However, it looks to be in the crosshairs as part of the EU’s dangerous assault on environmental and climate protections. We are urging policymakers to immediately change course.”
*While Colombia doesn’t have a legal framework for permissible limits of pollutants in sediment, Canada has a clear set of scientific guidelines to determine risks. Known as “sediment quality guidelines for the protection of aquatic life,” these establish the precise concentrations at which mercury contamination poses a threat to freshwater life.
