Is Perrier as pure because it claims? The bottled water scandal gripping France

[ad_1] Hugh Schofield Paris correspondent

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/b458/live/68ff9990-6e17-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/b458/live/68ff9990-6e17-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b458/live/68ff9990-6e17-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/b458/live/68ff9990-6e17-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/b458/live/68ff9990-6e17-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/b458/live/68ff9990-6e17-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/b458/live/68ff9990-6e17-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b458/live/68ff9990-6e17-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images A man pours a bottle of Perrier water into a glass on a bar" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Getty Pictures Main manufacturers like Perrier are underneath the highlight after the scandal broke in France

France's multi-billion euro mineral water corporations are underneath the highlight due to local weather change and rising issues in regards to the business's environmental affect.

At subject is whether or not some world-famous manufacturers, notably the long-lasting Perrier label, may even proceed calling themselves "pure mineral water".

A choice within the Perrier case is due within the coming months. It follows revelations within the French media about illicit filtration programs which have been extensively used within the business, apparently due to worries about water contamination, after years of drought linked to local weather change.

"This actually is our Water-gate," says Stéphane Mandard, who has led investigations at Le Monde newspaper. "It is a mixture of commercial fraud and state collusion."

"And now there's a actual Sword of Damocles hanging over the top of Perrier."

In accordance with hydrologist Emma Haziza, "the business mannequin of the large producers has labored very properly. However it's completely not sustainable at a time of world local weather change".

"When you will have massive manufacturers that really feel they don't have any alternative however to deal with their water – meaning they know there's a downside with the standard."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/7685/live/1cb2f2a0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/7685/live/1cb2f2a0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7685/live/1cb2f2a0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/7685/live/1cb2f2a0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/7685/live/1cb2f2a0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/7685/live/1cb2f2a0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/7685/live/1cb2f2a0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7685/live/1cb2f2a0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Bottles of Perrier, Yorre, Vichy, Vittel, Cristaline, Contrex and Hepar water stand next to each other on a table" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Getty Pictures EU regulation says pure mineral water ought to be unaltered between the underground supply and the bottle

The story hit the headlines a 12 months in the past in France after an investigation by Le Monde and Radio France revealed that a minimum of a 3rd of mineral water offered in France had been illegally handled, both with ultra-violet gentle, carbon filters or ultra-fine micro-meshes generally used to display out micro organism.

The problem was not one among public well being. The handled water was by definition secure to drink.

The issue was that underneath EU regulation, "pure mineral water" – which sells at an enormous premium over faucet water – is meant to be unaltered between the underground supply and the bottle. That's the complete level of it.

If manufacturers like Evian, Vichy and Perrier have been so profitable in France and world wide, it's due to an interesting picture of mountain-sides, dashing streams, purity and health-giving minerals.

Admit filtering the water, and the business dangers breaking the market spell. Customers may start to ask what they'd been paying for.

Complicating issues for Perrier and its dad or mum firm Nestlé – in addition to President Emmanuel Macron's authorities – is the cost that executives and ministers conspired to maintain the affair quiet, lined up reviews of contamination, and re-wrote the principles in order that Perrier may proceed utilizing micro-filtration.

Of their investigations, Le Monde and Radio France alleged that the federal government thought of the mineral water business so strategic that it agreed to suppress damaging info. A senate inquiry into the affair accused the federal government of a "deliberate technique" of "dissimulation".

Responding to the allegations, the federal government has requested the European Fee to rule on what stage of micro-filtration is permissible for "pure mineral water". Aurelien Rousseau, who was head of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne's cupboard on the time, admitted there had been an "error of appreciation" however insisted there was by no means any danger to public well being.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3507/live/d2ed7db0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3507/live/d2ed7db0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3507/live/d2ed7db0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3507/live/d2ed7db0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3507/live/d2ed7db0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3507/live/d2ed7db0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3507/live/d2ed7db0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3507/live/d2ed7db0-6e1a-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images French Senator Alexandre Ouizille (C), flanked by French Senators Laurent Burgoa (L) and Antoinette Guhl (R), presents the Senate commission of enquiry report about French industrial mineral waters during a press conference at the French Senate, Upper house of the French Parliament, in Paris on May 19, 2025" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Getty Pictures A senate report concluded that France's authorities lined up the water scandal "on the highest stage"

Earlier this 12 months, on the senate listening to into the business, Nestlé's CEO Laurent Freixe admitted that Perrier had certainly used illicit strategies to deal with its water.

However he additionally had one other admission: that an official hydrologists' report into the corporate's historic website within the Gard division in southern France had really helpful towards renewing "pure mineral water" standing for the corporate's output.

It raises the chance that for the primary time in its 160-year historical past, Perrier water might quickly not be labelled as what individuals assume it to be.

In accordance with the hydrologist Emma Haziza, "the hyperlink to local weather change and international warming is totally established". And if Perrier is feeling the affect forward of different corporations, it's most likely as a result of its geographical location units it aside.

Removed from the distant mountain panorama you may think, Perrier's water is pumped from deep aquifers within the coastal plain between Nîmes and Montpellier, a brief drive from the Mediterranean. The realm is populous, heavily-farmed, and highly regarded.

"There was a giant climatic shift since 2017," says Haziza. "For 5 years there was a succession of droughts, which had been significantly badly felt within the south."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6c4d/live/ebb1e4a0-6e18-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6c4d/live/ebb1e4a0-6e18-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6c4d/live/ebb1e4a0-6e18-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6c4d/live/ebb1e4a0-6e18-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6c4d/live/ebb1e4a0-6e18-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6c4d/live/ebb1e4a0-6e18-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6c4d/live/ebb1e4a0-6e18-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6c4d/live/ebb1e4a0-6e18-11f0-aa33-1bf5e0b3ec8e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="A woman with long wavy strawberry blonde hair in a white shirt and glasses stands in front of a river in the south of France" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Emma Haziza says local weather change is inflicting loads of issues within the south of France

"All of the aquifers had been affected. This implies not simply the higher water-table, which is the place on a regular basis faucet water comes from. We are able to now see that the deeper aquifers – which the businesses thought had been protected – are additionally being hit.

"The unexpected is happening. We're transferring from a interval through which corporations may draw water from the deep aquifers and make certain they might be replenished, to a interval through which it is apparent the entire system can not go on."

The evaluation made by Haziza and different hydrologists is that there's now a transparent hyperlink between deeper and floor aquifers. Contaminants (farm chemical compounds or human waste) that drain off the land within the more and more frequent flash floods, can now make their method into the decrease aquifers.

On the identical time, the results of long-term drought and over-pumping imply these decrease aquifers comprise much less quantity, so any contamination shall be extra concentrated, the consultants say.

"We are able to foresee that what has occurred first at Perrier's website will occur to different producers within the years to come back. That is why we have to transfer away from our present mannequin of consumption," says Haziza.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/55f8/live/90fb2020-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/55f8/live/90fb2020-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/55f8/live/90fb2020-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/55f8/live/90fb2020-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/55f8/live/90fb2020-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/55f8/live/90fb2020-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/55f8/live/90fb2020-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/55f8/live/90fb2020-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="A smiling man with a beard and moustache wearing a black shirt stands on a sunny road in the south of France" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Perrier hydrologist Jérémie Pralong insists their water is "100%" pure

Final 12 months on the Perrier website, three million bottles needed to be destroyed due to a contamination. However the firm insists that any issues are swiftly detected; and it disputes the declare that contaminants are coming into the deep aquifers.

"We're pumping water from 130 metres underground, beneath layers of limestone," says Perrier hydrologist Jérémie Pralong. "We're 100% satisfied of the purity of the water. And its mineral make-up is fixed."

Perrier says there isn't any EU ruling that particularly bans micro-filtration. The related textual content merely says that nothing have to be carried out to disinfect or alter the mineral make-up of the water. The argument is over at what measure of micro-filtration alteration begins.

The unique Perrier supply was first tapped by an area physician within the 1860s, nevertheless it was underneath British administration that the model took off 50 years later.

St John Harmsworth – brother of newspaper magnates Lords Northcliffe and Rothermere – made Perrier a byword for mineral water throughout the British empire.

In accordance with firm lore, Harmsworth took inspiration for the bottles' bulbous form from the Indian golf equipment he used for train following a crippling automobile accident.

Immediately the bottling plant at Vergèze continues to be subsequent to Harmsworth's residence and the unique supply. The plant has been closely automated. A rail monitor connects with the SNCF community to carry lots of of tens of millions of cans and bottles yearly to Marseille for export.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/15c7/live/d0148990-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/15c7/live/d0148990-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/15c7/live/d0148990-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/15c7/live/d0148990-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/15c7/live/d0148990-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/15c7/live/d0148990-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/15c7/live/d0148990-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/15c7/live/d0148990-6e19-11f0-a527-49a2f77f1dfe.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Crates of Perrier bottles travel around a factory floor on conveyor belts" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Perrier's bottling plant continues to be subsequent to the water's authentic supply at Vergèze

The main focus for the final 12 months has been on a brand new model: Maison Perrier. These vitality and flavoured drinks are proving extremely profitable in France and world wide.

The benefit for Perrier is that the brand new drinks don't declare to be "pure mineral water". They are often handled and filtered with out issue.

Perrier says the brand new model is a part of the combo, and that it has no intention of abandoning its authentic Supply Perrier pure mineral water. It has stopped the ultra-fine (0.2 micron) microfiltration, and now makes use of a 0.45 micron system which has been agreed with authorities.

It has utilized for "pure mineral water" standing for simply two out of the 5 drilling wells it was utilizing for Perrier mineral water. A choice is due later this 12 months.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/c457/live/fc1152c0-741e-11f0-a975-cb151ca452f4.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/c457/live/fc1152c0-741e-11f0-a975-cb151ca452f4.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c457/live/fc1152c0-741e-11f0-a975-cb151ca452f4.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/c457/live/fc1152c0-741e-11f0-a975-cb151ca452f4.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/c457/live/fc1152c0-741e-11f0-a975-cb151ca452f4.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/c457/live/fc1152c0-741e-11f0-a975-cb151ca452f4.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/c457/live/fc1152c0-741e-11f0-a975-cb151ca452f4.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c457/live/fc1152c0-741e-11f0-a975-cb151ca452f4.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="A thin, grey banner promoting the News Daily newsletter. On the right, there is a graphic of an orange sphere with two concentric crescent shapes around it in a red-orange gradient, like a sound wave. The banner reads: "The latest news in your inbox first thing.” " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Get our flagship publication with all of the headlines that you must begin the day. Join right here.