Is Perrier as pure as he claims? The scandal of bottled water gripping France

Mineral water companies of several billion euros in France are in light due to climate change and increasing concerns concerning the environmental impact of industry.

The question is whether certain world renown brands, including the iconic perrier label, can even continue to qualify as “natural mineral water”.

A decision in the Perrier case is due in the coming months. He follows the revelations of the French media on illicit filtration systems that have been widely used in the industry, apparently due to concerns about water contamination, after years of drought linked to climate change.

“It’s really our water door,” explains Stéphane Mandard, who conducted investigations to the newspaper Le Monde. “It is a combination of industrial fraud and state collusion.”

“And now there is a real sword of damocles suspended above Perrier’s head.”

According to the hydrologist Emma Haziza, “the commercial model of the big producers worked very well. But it is absolutely not durable at a time of global climate change”.

“When you have big brands that believe they have no choice but to treat their water – it means that they know that there is a problem with quality.”

History made the headlines a year ago in France after a world survey and radio France revealed that at least a third of the mineral water sold in France had been treated illegally, with ultra-violet light, carbon filters or ultra-finish micro-meal commonly used to detect bacteria.

The problem was not that of public health. The treated water was by definition safe to drink.

The problem was by virtue of the EU law, “natural mineral water” – which sells for a large bonus compared to tap water – is supposed to be unchanged between the underground source and the bottle. This is all the interest.

If brands like Evian, Vichy and Perrier have been so successful in France and in the world, it is thanks to an attractive image of mountainways, precipitated streams, purity and minerals in terms of health.

Admitting water filtering and industry may break the market fate. Consumers could start asking what they had paid.

Complete the questions to Perrier and his parent company Nestlé – as well as for the government of President Emmanuel Macron – is the accusation that leaders and ministers conspired to keep the case silent, covered with contamination and rewriting the rules so that Perrier can continue to use micro -filtration.

In their surveys, Le Monde and Radio France allegedly alleged that the government considered the strategic mineral water industry that it had agreed to delete the detrimental information. An investigation by the Senate on the case accused the government of a “deliberate strategy” of “concealment”.

Responding to allegations, the government asked the European Commission to rule on the level of micro-filtration authorized for “natural mineral water”. Aurelien Rousseau, who was head of the cabinet of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne at the time, admitted that there had been an “error of appreciation” but insisted that there was never any risk to public health.

Earlier this year, during the Senate hearing in the industry, the CEO of Nestlé, Laurent Freixe, admitted that Perrier had indeed used illicit methods to treat his water.

But he also had another admission: that an official report of hydrologists on the historic site of the company in the department of Gard in the south of France had recommended to renew the status of “natural mineral water” for the production of the company.

He raises the possibility that for the first time in his 160 years of history, Perrier Water is soon not labeled like what people assume.

According to the hydrologist Emma Haziza, “the link with climate change and global warming is absolutely established”. And if Perrier feels the impact before other societies, it is probably because its geographical location distinguishes it.

Far from the landscape of the remote mountains that you could imagine, Perrier water is pumped deep aquifers in the coastal plain between Nîmes and Montpellier, a few minutes by car from the Mediterranean. The area is populated, heavily enlarged and very hot.

“There has been a big climate change since 2017,” said Haziza. “For five years, there was a succession of droughts, which were particularly felt in the South.”

“All aquifers have been affected.

“The increation takes place. We move from a period when companies could draw water from the deep aquifers and ensure that they would be reappropriate, at a period when it is obvious that the whole system cannot continue.”

The analysis carried out by Haziza and other hydrologists is that there is now a clear link between deeper and surface aquifers. Contaminants (agricultural chemicals or human waste) which flow from the ground in sudden floods increasingly frequent, can now make their way in the lower aquifers.

At the same time, the effects of drought in the long term and most pumps mean these lower aquifers contain less volume, so any contamination will be more concentrated, according to experts.

“We can predict that what happened first on the Perrier site will arrive at other producers in the years to come. This is why we must move away from our current consumption model,” explains Haziza.

Last year on the Perrier site, three million bottles had to be destroyed due to contamination. But the company insists that any problem is quickly detected; And this disputes the assertion that contaminants enter the deep aquifers.

“We are pompking water from 130 meters underground, under layers of limestone,” explains the hydrologist Perrier Jérémie Pralong. “We are 100% convinced of the purity of water. And its mineral composition is constant.”

Perrier says that there is no EU decision which specifically prohibits micro-filtration. The relevant text simply says that nothing should be done to disinfect or modify the mineral composition of water. The argument is completed to what extent the measurement of micro-filtration alteration begins.

The Perrier source of origin was operated for the first time by a local doctor in the 1860s, but it was under British direction that the brand took off 50 years later.

St John Harmsworth – Brother of the Lordcliffe and Rothermere newspaper magnates – made a word for mineral water through the British Empire.

According to Lore, Harmsworth was inspired by the bulbous shape of the bottles of the Indian clubs he used to exercise after a paralyzing car accident.

Today, the Vergèze traffic jam factory is still next to the Harmsworth residence and the original source. The factory was highly automated. A railway connects to the SNCF network to bring hundreds of millions of cans and bottles to Marseille for export each year.

Last year was put on a new brand: Maison Perrier. These energy and flavored drinks are very successful in France and in the world.

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

Perrier says that the new brand is part of the mixture and that it does not intend to abandon its original source of Perrier Natural Mineral Water. He stopped ultra-fine microfiltration (0.2 micron) and now uses a 0.45 micron system that was agreed with the government.

He asked for the status of “natural mineral water” for only two of the five drilling wells he used for perrier mineral water. A decision is due later this year.