Overview
- Following a DREAL inspection, the prefecture sent a formal notice on December 10 giving Perrier’s Vergèze site eight days to fix its internal treatment plant, ordering production lines stopped in the meantime.
- Inspectors reported a malfunction and abnormal discharges into the Vistre river, with exceedances on parameters such as suspended solids and nitrates.
- Nestlé Waters says the halt was temporary, production is progressively resuming, and the company maintains there was no pollution of the river.
- Radio France reports the breakdown may be linked to a large nitric-acid disinfection after Pseudomonas aeruginosa was detected in a borehole, a cause not officially confirmed by authorities.
- Earlier this month ARS blocked about 2,500 pallets for bacteriological deviations, ARS has since issued a favorable opinion under enhanced health monitoring, and prefectural decisions on labeling and filtration authorizations remain pending.