Is perrier as clean as claims? Scandal with water in bottles that fond of France

Multimile-billion-dollar European Mineral France’s Mineral Companies are subject to climate change and increasing concern about the environment of the industry.

It is about whether some world -renowned brands can, in particular the iconic Perrier label, even continue to call themselves “natural mineral water”.

The decision in the case must be in the coming months. This implies discoveries in the French media about the illegal filtering systems, which are widely used in this area, apparently from the hassle of water pollution, after many years of drought associated with climate change.

“This is really our water gate,” says Stefan Mandard, who was investigating Le Monde. “This is a combination of industrial fraud and state conspiracy.”

“And now there is a real sword of a pre -head that hangs over the head.”

According to Hydrogue Emma Hasiz, “the commercial model of large manufacturers works very well. But this is absolutely not steadily during the global climate change.”

“If you have big brands that believe they have nothing left to treat water – it means that they know that there is a problem with quality.”

The story came to headlines a year ago in France after the investigation of Le Monde and Radio France, showed that at least a third of the mineral water sold in France was illegally processed, or with the help of ultraviolet light, carbon filters, or with ultra -fixed trace elements.

The question was not in health care. Cleaning water by definition was safe for drinking.

The problem was that in accordance with the EU legislation, “natural mineral water” – sold with a huge prize over water water – should be unchanged between the underground source and the bottle. This is the whole thing in this.

When brands such as Evian, Vichy and Perrier were as successful in France and all over the world, it is thanks to the attractive image of mountain sides, rapid flows, purity and minerals.

Take water filtering, and the industry risk disrupts the spell market. Consumers can start asking what they paid for.

Complex questions for the Perser and its maternal company Nestlé-A-President Emmanuel Macronu-is the charge that the executives and ministers who have purchased, remain silent, covered pollution reports and rewriting the rules so that the peer can continue to use microfilt.

In the course of the investigations, Le Mond and Radio France said the government found the mineral water industry so strategic that he agreed to suppress the damage. The Senate Investigation has accused the government of “deliberate strategy” of “discomulation”.

Responding to the allegations, the government has asked the European Commission to make a decision on what level of microfiltration is permissible for “natural mineral water”. Aurelien Rousseau, who at the time was the head of Prime Minister Ellisabeta Borne, confessed that there was a “gratitude mistake”, but insisted that there was never a risk for health care.

Earlier this year, at the Halina Senate hearing, Nestlé CEO Laurent Fraste acknowledged that Perser really used illegal methods to treat water.

But he also had another recognition: that the official report of the hydrologists at the historic site of the Garda department in southern France recommended not to update the status of “natural mineral water” for the production of the company.

This causes the possibility that for the first time in its 160-year history, Perrier Water cannot soon be marked as what people think.

According to Hydrogue Emma Hasiza, “the connection with climate change and global warming is absolutely established.” And when Perrier feels the effect of other companies, it is probably because its geographical position distinguishes it.

Far from the remote mountain landscape that you can imagine, the water water is pumped from the deep aquifers on the coastal plain between the Incent and the Montpell, a few minutes away from the Mediterranean. The area is crowded, highly armed and very hot.

“Since 2017, there has been a big climatic shift,” says Hasiz. “During the five years there was a continuity of drought, which were especially bad in the south.”

“All aquifers have suffered. This means not only the upper water table from where daily water comes from.

“Unexpected happens

The analysis, made by the Hasiza and other hydrologists, is that there is now a clear connection between deeper and superficial aquifers. Pollution (farm chemicals or human waste) that drain the soil in more frequent flash wires, can now get into the lower aquifers.

At the same time, the consequences of long -term drought and overstress mean that these lower aquifers contain less volume, so any pollution will be more concentrated, experts say.

“We can foresee what what happened primarily on the periur’s website will happen with other producers in the coming years. That is why we need to move away from our current consumption model,” the Hasiz says.

Last year, three million bottles had to be destroyed on the perrier site. But the company insists that any problems will be detected quickly; And this disputes that the pollutants enter the deep aquifers.

“We pump water from 130 meters underground, under the layers of limestone,” says Hydrologist Perser Jeremy Prolong. “We are 100% convinced of water clean. And its mineral composition is constant.”

Perser says there is no EU ruling that prohibits microfilt. The relevant text just says nothing you need to do to disinfect or change the water mineral composition. The argument has ended in which the change of microfiltration begins.

The original Perrier source was first made up for the local doctor in the 1860s, but it was in British Management brand that came out 50 years later.

St. John Harmsworth – brother of the newspaper magnates of the Lord North cliff and Rottermer – made Peri.

According to the company, Harmsworth took inspiration for bulbous bottles of Indian clubs that he used for training after a crippled car accident.

Today, the plant in Vergèze is still near the residence of Harmsworth and the original source. The plant was heavily automated. The railway track connects to the SNCF network to bring hundreds of millions of cans and export bottles annually.

The focus last year was on the new brand: Maison Perrier. These energy and flavored drinks are very successful in France and worldwide.

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

Perser says the new brand is part of the mixture, and that it does not intend to abandon its original source of natural mineral water perrier. It stopped the ultra -colored (0.2 micron) microfiltration, and now a 0.45 micron system that was agreed with the government is used.

He applied for the status of “natural mineral water” only for two of the five wells he used for the perrier mineral water. The decision should happen at the end of this year.