The water of the city of Vittel, famous throughout the world, is threatened with drying up. For good reason, the source is massively exploited by Nestlé.
At the word “Vittel”, it is very likely that you think of water before the city. However, this water, famous throughout the world, is in danger of disappearing. The association 60 million consumers relays and denounces the depletion of the water table by the Nestlé company, which has the right to draw 1 million cubic meters each year. This water is marketed in many countries under the “Vittel Bonne source” brand. Next to that, a second company, the Ermitage cheese dairy, also has the right to draw 600,000 cubic meters of water there. In the end, only 50% of the water resources remain to supply potable water the town of Vittel, and the neighboring towns.
A water table in deficit
This legendary water table, exploited by Nestlé for more than 30 years, stretches from the Vosges to Luxembourg. Today, this massive industrialization prevents it from regenerating and this blue gold mine risks drying up. This problem is unfortunately not new and dates back to the 1970s when the water deficit was 2.5 million cubic meters per year. Today, it has stabilized around 800,000 m3, can we read on the website of 60 million consumers, that is to say what the Nestlé company takes each year … In a press release published on March 22, the France Nature Environment (FNE) association affirms that “the international giant Nestlé Waters has appropriated the local resource to market bottled water, exported to Germany. At the risk of depleting the water table and to the detriment of local populations. ”The company defends itself by explaining that it reduced its withdrawals by 25% in 2017.
In search of drinkable solutions
However, water saving or transfer solutions have only been studied since 2010 by the Local Water Commission (CLE). On March 15, the CLE proposed to build some twenty kilometers of pipeline in order to collect drinking water in neighboring territories. Ultimately, the objective is to transfer 1 Mm3 / year. The cost is estimated between 15 and 30 million euros which would increase the price of the m3 of water from 0.20 to 1 euro for the consumer. This project will be voted on by the committee in June 2018.
