To finally comply and respond to the market, Perrier is launching a new range of flavored waters in Vergèze in Gard

La Source Perrier à Vergèze, dans le Gard, emploie un millier de salariés. DR – DR

The use of activated carbon and ultraviolet filters was not regulatory: Nestlé Waters is returning to standards and adapting its production at its Source Perrier site in Gard.

"This is the culmination of a plan for major transformation". Sophie Dubois, director of Nestlé Waters France, says she has high hopes for growth for the historic Source Perrier site in Vergèze (Gard). Here, the famous sparkling water sold throughout the world had, like many other waters marketed by Nestlé, experienced a significant drop in production, linked in particular to the impacts of climate change.

Falling production

D'1.7 billion units (bottles of different capacities and cans) left the Gard lines in 2021, production had fallen to 1.4 billion& nbsp;in 2022, then 1.2 billion in 2023. "We have the ambition to return to our production of 1.7 to & nbsp;1.8 billion in 2024 and to maintain or even develop our activity in the territory",assures the manager. However, there is a nuance: not all the bottles produced in Vergèze in 2024 by the factory's thousand employees will be called Perrier and will not all be natural mineral waters! From now on, two wells (the oldest) out of eight will produce water for human consumption which cannot be called mineral water. "We let's launch Maison Perrier, a new range of flavored waters, which will not have the characteristics of Perrier water but correspond to a new consumption segment in very strong growth, assures Sophie Dubois.

Sophie Dubois is director of Nestlé Waters France. DR – DR

The birth of Maison Perrier is above all the result of a constraint for the Swiss giant to comply with French regulations, which is not the case. was not the case! The use of ultraviolet light and activated carbon filters is not authorized in France, and Nestlé Waters admits to having continued this practice illegally until, in 2021, find and propose to the authorities a new microfiltering technique. "We must both protect the environment of our sources, and maintain the characteristics of our waters. This requires permanent and quite complex adaptation in view of climatic episodes, sometimes floods, sometimes drought. Our plan therefore aims to be more resilient, to bring us back into compliance with the regulatory framework on natural waters, a framework that we may have, in the past, lost sight of without however # 39;at no time is the food security of our waters called into question", continues Sophie Dubois.

Production has fallen over the past three years. Midi Libre – Archives S. D.

50 M€ invested in the Vergèze factory

The microfiltration process has been validated, it took three years to remove the activated carbon and ultraviolet filters which made it possible to keep the essential labeling for marketing, and the French boss of the group recognizes him " all our systems are now fully compliant, but this has led us to extremely difficult business choices". To separate the arrival of the flows of the two types of water, Perrier and Maison Perrier, 50 M€ were invested on the Gard site.

This "major strategic turning point" draws on prospects for the rapidly growing bottled water market. The flavored waters sold within a few weeks and already in production in Vergèze, will be called Maison Perrier Forever, Maison Perrier Chic (non-alcoholic drinks or "mocktails") Magnetic Juce ( with fruit juice) or Energize (energy drink with natural flavors). In 2024, Nestlé Waters France intends to regain its volumes, demonstrate innovation and reach new consumers, young people in particular. 

In the Vosges, closed wells

On its Vittel-Contrexéville site in the Vosges, Nestlé Waters has suspended certain wells. Age, sensitivity to climatic hazards and the decline in water resources have reduced the volumes of Hépar and Contrex. The end of the marketing of Vittel water in Germany increased the difficulties. Last October, a social movement affected the Vosges site, employees protesting against the reduction in the workforce (171 departures planned out of 720 jobs).

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