[From the traces in the wells of the urban aqueduct network to the subsequent prohibition of the use of glyphosate: the case of an area of high-intensity wine production in the province of Treviso, Veneto].

Glyphosate is the best-selling herbicide in the world and in 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer listed it among the "probable carcinogens for humans", opening a scientific debate that is still going on. On these premises, in 2016, extraordinary samplings of glyphosate, its metabolite AMPA, and a similar compound, ammonium glufosinate, were carried out in 12 wells of the water network intended for domestic consumption in the territory of the Local Health Unit 2 - District of Pieve di Soligo, Province of Treviso, Veneto region, Italy. The area includes 13 municipalities at high-intensity "Prosecco d.o.c.g." wine production. Traces of glyphosate (maximum reached 0.08 µg/L) and AMPA (maximum reached 0.25 µg/L, beyond the legal limit of 0.1 µg/L for drinking water) were detected in 2 wells supplying an urban area. No samples contained traces of ammonium glufosinate. Following these findings, an inter-municipal order to suspend the use of glyphosate was introduced and then entered definitively in the rural police regulation concerning all the municipalities in the Prosecco d.o.c.g. area, which led to the elimination of glyphosate and AMPA also in the initially contaminated wells. The case shows that high-consumption herbicides can reach the drinking water network of a city surrounded by territories with high agricultural activity. Moreover, the combined intervention of the institutions was fundamental to eliminate a "probable carcinogen" from the urban drinking water and to promote the abandonment of potentially harmful agricultural practices in favor of solutions with reduced environmental and health impact.