Plastic in bottled water: these brands identified in France as least affected
A new consumer study claims four popular brands offer the safest water to drink
Volvic came top of the list, due to its natural mountain filtration and very low levels of plastic contamination, the consumer group said
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Amid concerns over the filtering processes and pollutants in both bottled and tap water in France, one consumer magazine has identified a list of what it calls ‘the least polluted bottles’ on the market.
The magazine 60 Millions de consommateurs has found, in a study reported by Le Figaro:
Volvic topped the ranking of the safest waters, and stood out for its natural mountain filtration and very low levels of plastic contamination
Montclar (from Carrefour) came next, with “optimal minerality” and similarly-low contamination
Badoit, the sparkling water, came next, with low contamination
The magazine found that these brands contain little or no plastic microparticles and are completely safe for daily consumption.
The magazine also recommended that people drink and store water in “inert containers” made of glass or stainless steel, which do not degrade or leach plastics into their contents.
Water quality concerns
Each person in France consumes 133 litres of water per year, equating to nine billion bottles of water for the entire country in drinking water every year.
However in recent years concerns have emerged from a number of sources over the purity of water available in France.
One 2022 survey - by the environmental association Agir pour l'environnement (and highlighted by 60 Millions de consommateurs when it was published) - found that many popular bottled waters contain plastic microparticles.
This included leading brands on the French market and also some of those named in the 60 millions de consommateurs study - namely Badoit, Carrefour, Cristaline, Evian, Perrier, Vittel and Volvic. The survey said that 78% of the waters analysed contained plastic microparticles in varying quantities.
The study claimed that the higher level was Vittel Kids, a water marketed at children, which was found to contain an average of 121 micro-particles of plastic per litre.
Similarly, major brands from Nestlé Waters (Vittel, Contrex, Hépar and Perrier) have been repeatedly accused of illegal filtration practices.
Tap water issues
Even tap water has not escaped concern; a study from last month found that as many as 340,000 km of pipes across France were contaminated with a substance classified as carcinogenic: vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), while a report from 2022 suggested that up to 12 million people nationwide had drunk tap water containing pesticide levels above the acceptable quality threshold.
A separate 2024 study also found that over two in five samples of tap water were contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ (PFAS and microplastics) which could have a negative effect on public health.
Read more: Four French water brands accused of bacteria and chemical contaminants
Read more: Chemical anomalies found in French tap water in study
Environmental agency WWF claims that people ingest an average of nearly five grams of plastic per week (the equivalent of a credit card) due to microplastics contamination. These microplastics are thought to accumulate in the body, and can cause health issues.
