Source Perrier has been the subject of careful study by a generation of scientists. Scientists trace the source back more than 100 million years to the Cretaceous Era, when limestone deposits formed faults and fissures, which captured water deep within the earth. Today, as it has for millenniums, fresh rain falling on the plains and hillsides of Southern France seeps into the limestone, sand and gravel deposits below the Earth’s surface. Moving through this substrata, the water is naturally filtered as it acquires the minerals which give Perrier its character and good taste.
Terrestrial Filtration
Traveling through these layers of porous limestone, cracked marl (a hard, clay-like substance rich in calcium carbonate) and pure white sand (which sustains the water’s clarity), the water collects at the source near Vergèze. Nature provides added protection with an eight to fifteen-foot layer of impermeable clay, which surrounds the source for over a mile in all directions, guarding the spring from surface contaminants.
Unique Carbonation
One of Perrier’s most distinguishing attributes has always been its carbonation. This begins as volcanic magma (molten rock), trapped within the geologic strata. The magma superheats and ground water beneath the Perrier spring permeates the calcium carbonate layers, forming carbonated gas. This carbonated gas rises to mingle and carbonate the mineral water. Up through the last century this combination formed a cool, bubbling pool (“Les Bouillens”) in which locals and health-seekers often bathed.
A desire for consistency, plus Perrier’s growing public demands as an international beverage, led French scientists to devise a more efficient means to capture the water’s perfect balance of minerals and carbonation, and maintain consistency. By the end of the 19th century, the water and gas were collected separately and combined at the bottling plant under conditions likened to those once found within the source.
This procedure has been modernized since then, of course. Both the water and carbonic gas are still harvested independently. They come from isolated points at different depths, within the same geologic formation. Before they come together for bottling, a filter is used to remove any natural impurities in the gas.