Is Pereier pure as he claims? The bottled water scandal sweeps France

Mineral water companies in France are subject to billions of euros under the spotlight due to climate change and increasing interests on the environmental impact of the industry.

In the case is whether some of the world famous brands, especially iconic stickers, can even continue to nominate themselves “natural mineral water”.

Resolution in the Perrier case is scheduled for the coming months. This is followed by the revelation in the French media about the illegal nomination systems that have been widely used in this industry, and it seems that it is due to concerns about water pollution, and after years of drought associated with climate change.

“This is really our water gate,” says Stéphane Mandard, who led investigations into the Le Monde. “It is a mixture of industrial fraud and government collusion.”

“Now there is a real sword of Damocles hanging over Perier’s head.”

According to the world of hydros Emma Hazza, “The commercial model of the big producers has worked very well. But it is not sustainable at all at the time of global climate change.”

“When you have great brands, you feel that they have no choice but to treat their water – this means that they know that there is a quality problem.”

The story topped the headlines a year ago in France after the investigation conducted by Le Monde and France Radio revealed that at least a third of mineral water was sold in France illegally treated, either with UV light, carbon candidates or highly used microscopic tools to examine bacteria.

The case was not one of the public health. With its definition, the treated water was safe to drink.

The problem was that under the European Union Law, “natural mineral water” – which sells a great allowance for tap water – is supposed to be unchanging between the source under the ground and the bottle. This is the poem of it.

If trademarks such as Evian, Fish and Pierre in France and around the world succeed, this is thanks to an attractive image of mountain sides, impulsive flows, minerals and healthy minerals.

Acknowledge the water filtering, and the industry risk of raging the market talisman. Consumers may start asking what they were paying.

The complexity of matters for Perrier and its mother company Nestlé- as well as the government of President Emmanuel Macron-is the charge that executive managers and ministers conspired to maintain the issue quiet, cover reports on pollution, and rewrite the rules so that Peyre can continue to use careful filtration.

In their investigations, Le Monde and Radio France claimed that the government considers the mineral water industry a strategy that it has agreed to suppress harmful information. An investigation into the Senate in the case was accused of the government of a “deliberate strategy” of “defection”.

In response to these allegations, the government asked the European Commission to judge the exact level of exact nomination for “natural mineral water”. Urielian Rousseau, who was Prime Minister Ellisabeth Borni at the time, admitted that there was a “estimate error” but insisted that there was no danger to public health.

Earlier this year, in the Senate hearing in this industry, the CEO of Nestlé Laurent admitted that Perier has already used illegal methods to treat its water.

But he also had another recognition: that the report of the official hydrological specialists on the company’s historical location in the GARD section in southern France recommended not to renew the “natural mineral water” to produce the company.

It raises the possibility that for the first time in its 160 -year -old history, Perrier may not soon be named as what people assume.

According to the world of hydros Emma Hazza, “The link with climate change and global warming has been completely established.” And if Perrier feels the effect of other companies, it may be because its geographical location distinguishes it.

Away from the remote mountainous landscape that you may imagine, Perrier water is pumped from deep groundwater layers in the coastal plain between Nîmes and Montpellier, a short drive from the Mediterranean Sea. The populated area, severely planted, and very hot.

“There has been a major climate transformation since 2017,” said Haza. “For five years, there was a series of dehydration, which felt heavily in the south.”

“All groundwater layers have been affected. This does not only mean the top water table, the place where daily tap water comes. We can now see that the deeper groundwater layers-which companies believed as well.

“The unexpected happens. We move from a period in which companies can derive water from the deep groundwater layers and make sure they are renewed, to a period of clearly that the entire system cannot continue.”

The analysis conducted by Hazza and other hydrological scientists is that there is now a clear link between the deeper groundwater layers and the surface. Folding (chemicals or human waste) that drain the Earth in frequently frequent floods, can make their way to the lower groundwater layer.

At the same time, the effects of the long -term dehydration and the excessive pumping of this lower groundwater contain a fewer size, so any pollution will be more concentrated, as experts say.

“We can expect that what happened first on Perrier will happen to other producers in the coming years. For this reason we need to stay away from our current consumption model,” says Haza.

Last year at Perrier, three million bottles had to be destroyed due to pollution. But the company insists that any problems are discovered quickly; The claim tests that pollutants enter deep groundwater layers.

“We pump the water from 130 meters underground, below layers of limestone,” says Pereier Jeremy Brallong. “We are 100 % convinced of water purity. Its metal makeup is fixed.”

Perier says there is no ruling in the European Union specifically prohibiting accurate nomination. The relevant text simply says that nothing should be done to disinfect or change the metal makeup of the water. The argument has ended in any scale for changing precise filtration that begins.

The original source Perrier was exploited for the first time by a local doctor in the 1960s, but it was under British management that the brand took off after 50 years.

St. John Harmsworth – brother of the Listcliffe and Rothermer newspaper – Make Perrier A BYWORD mineral water across the British Empire.

According to Company Lore, Harmsworth was inspired by the form of bottles of Indian clubs that he used to exercise after a broken car accident.

Today the bottles filling factory in Vergèze remains next to Harmsworth and the original source. The factory was a strong conference. The railway path is connected to the SNCF network to bring hundreds of millions of cans and bottles every year to Marseille for export.

The focus on last year was on a new brand: Maison Perrier. This energy and flavoring drinks proves very successful in France and around the world.

The Perrier feature is that new drinks do not claim to be “natural mineral water”. It can be treated and filtered without difficulty.

Perrier says the new brand is part of this mix, and it does not intend to abandon its original source of natural metal water. It has stopped the super accurate nomination (0.2 microns), and is now using a 0.45 micron system agreed with the government.

I have applied to obtain “natural mineral water” for only two of the five drilling wells it was using for elegant mineral water. The decision is scheduled to pass later this year.