For more than twenty years, pollution from former mining sites has prompted numerous environmental and health studies. Residents’ concerns were reignited during the floods of 2018.

In this context, Santé publique France was consulted by the Occitanie Regional Health Agency (ARS) regarding the appropriateness of conducting further health studies.
Santé publique France then proposed implementing a “public health” approach that gives the population a voice: gathering residents’ concerns, questions, expectations, and local knowledge related to practices in the area, in order to provide responses that best meet the population’s expectations.

This study, titled PRiOR for “Practices and Perception of Risks by Residents of the Orbiel Valley,” is being conducted in partnership with scientists from the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès (UT2J) and the CNRS.