Is Perrier as Pure as it Claims? The Bottled Water Scandal Gripping France
jelizondo writes:
The BBC is running a very interesting story about Perrier and other "natural" waters not being quite what they claim to be. While some might see it as only a technicality on what "natural" means, some aspects of it point to larger, and more frightening problems:
France's multi-billion euro mineral water companies are under the spotlight because of climate change and growing concerns about the industry's environmental impact.
At issue is whether some world-famous brands, notably the iconic Perrier label, can even continue calling themselves "natural mineral water".
A decision in the Perrier case is due in the coming months. It follows revelations in the French media about illicit filtration systems that have been widely used in the industry, apparently because of worries about water contamination, after years of drought linked to climate change.
[...] The issue was not one of public health. The treated water was by definition safe to drink.
The problem was that under EU law, "natural mineral water" - which sells at a huge premium over tap water - is supposed to be unaltered between the underground source and the bottle. That is the whole point of it.
[...] Complicating matters for Perrier and its parent company Nestle - as well as President Emmanuel Macron's government - is the charge that executives and ministers conspired to keep the affair quiet, covered up reports of contamination, and re-wrote the rules so that Perrier could continue using micro-filtration.
[...] The analysis made by Haziza and other hydrologists is that there is now a clear link between deeper and surface aquifers. Contaminants (farm chemicals or human waste) that drain off the land in the increasingly frequent flash floods, can now make their way into the lower aquifers.
At the same time, the effects of long-term drought and over-pumping mean these lower aquifers contain less volume, so any contamination will be more concentrated, the experts say.
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