Sacre’ Bleau!
There is a bottled water scandal that is gripping France’s multi-billion euro mineral water companies. They are under the spotlight allegedly 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.” 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. “This really is our Water-gate,” says Stéphane Mandard, who has led investigations at Le Monde newspaper. “It’s a combination of industrial fraud and state collusion.” “And now there is a real Sword of Damocles hanging over the head of Perrier.”
EU law says natural mineral water should be unaltered between the underground source and the bottle. The story hit the headlines a year ago in France after an investigation by Le Monde and Radio France revealed that at least a third of mineral water sold in France had been illegally treated. 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. If brands like Evian, Vichy and Perrier have been so successful, it is thanks to an appealing image of lush mountain-sides, rushing streams, purity and health-giving minerals. Companies admit industrial purification and filtering the water risks breaking the market spell. Consumers might begin to ask what they have been paying for.
Complicating matters for Perrier and its parent company Nestlé – 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. In their investigations, the media alleged that the government considered the mineral water industry so strategic that it agreed to suppress damaging information. A senate inquiry into the affair accused the government of a “deliberate strategy” of “dissimulation.” Responding to the allegations, the government has asked the European Commission to rule on what level of micro-filtration is permissible for “natural mineral water.” A senate report concluded that France’s government covered up the water scandal “at the highest level.” Earlier this year, at the senate hearing into the industry, Nestlé’s CEO Laurent Freixe admitted that Perrier had indeed used illicit methods to treat its water. “The unforeseen is taking place. We are moving from a period in which companies could draw water from the deep aquifers and be sure they would be replenished, to a period in which it’s obvious the whole system cannot go on.”
Purity tested humor
How do you make a waterbed more bouncy?
You use spring water.
Husband: “Waiter, my wife spilled her water.”
Waiter: “No problem, I’ll get you another one.”
Husband: “Make sure the next one likes sports.”
What weighs more, a gallon of water, or a gallon of butane?
A gallon of water. Butane is a lighter fluid.
I made a New Years Resolution to drink more water.
So far, I’ve only gotten as far as “Drink More.”
August 15th Birthdays
1991 – Emmie Buckner, 1912 – Julia Child, 1990 – Jennifer Lawrence, 1969 – Debra Messing
1972 – Ben Afleck, 1769 – Napoleon Bonaparte, 1971 – Anthony Anderson, 1980 – Carlos Pena Vega