Established since 2005 in Laqueuille, the bottling company Aquamark, a subsidiary of Lerclerc, hoped to develop in Puy-de-Dôme by operating a borehole in the town of Murat-le-Quaire. The municipal council has just issued a negative opinion, thus rendering the file obsolete.
The Aquamark company planned to bottle the water collected in Murat-le-Quaire to sell it on the shelves of Leclerc supermarkets. The project, which is the subject of a public inquiry launched at the end of March, has just been rejected by the municipal council. “We issued a negative opinion (9 against, 2 abstentions) this Saturday, May 4, taking into account all the discussions we had with the residents. The Muratois elected us, we had to follow their wishes,” indicates the mayor, Jean-François Cassier.
The subsidiary of the Leclerc group has already been present in Puy-de-Dôme since 2005. It operates two boreholes in the town of Laqueuille, less than 8 km away, which allow it to bottle nearly 350 million liters of water every year. But the still water market is “constantly evolving” ensures the French leader who displays “an increase of 5 to 6% on average”. To continue its development, Aquamark therefore aimed to capture water in the Bois de Paillère in Murat-le-Quaire, making it possible to bottle up to 175 million liters.
Residents are worried about the lack of water, in a context where episodes of drought are becoming more and more frequent. They also wonder about the road transport that an operation like this can induce. It’s understandable.
Jean-François CassierMayor of Murat-le-Quaire
The public meeting, scheduled for this Tuesday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Murat-le-Quaire village hall, is being maintained. Aquamark and local elected officials should be present to interact with residents. Because if the opinion of the municipal council is decisive, it is not definitive. The last word goes to the Puy-de-Dôme prefecture which will issue a decision of authorization or refusal at the end of the public inquiry, the end date of which has been postponed to May 15. “It would be surprising if she opposed the decision of the municipal council and decided to validate the project… For us, it is a happy outcome and a page that turns”believes Jean-François Cassier.
The investigating commissioner will therefore continue to collect residents’ concerns. He will be at the Murat-le-Quaire town hall on May 15 from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Online, more than 300 contributions have already been made. Most mention the possible environmental consequences of such a project. Others deplore that the water, “good of all”, or in the hands of industrialists. “At a time of umpteenth and eternal great speeches on the carbon footprint, let’s keep in mind that we must favor short circuits! This project makes no sense! And must not succeed, it would be dramatic for the region!”, we can read on the site, accessible to all.
The public inquiry is also an opportunity to make recommendations. Thus, a contributor writes: “I hope that water transport will be carried out by rail. There is already a railway line. It is urgent to review the transport of goods in France. Road transport poisons us and pollutes enormously.”
Former director of a bottling factory in Sancy, now converted into a sled dog leader, Jean-François Cassier suffered a flood of hateful comments online when the project was announced. “There are always bad tongues on social networks… But my experience allowed me to better understand what Aquamark wanted to do here, to be more vigilant on certain points and to be able to better answer residents’ questions”he insists.
The water withdrawal project in Murat-le-Quaire was notably defended by the senator (LR) of Puy-de-Dôme, Jean-Marc Boyer. “We are in a world where every project is subject to threat and pressure. We are reaching extremes where people are not afraid of carrying out anonymous attacks.”, he reacts, referring to the arson which targeted the Volvic Water Company site last week. The elected official brought the installation of Aquamark to Laqueuille, when he was mayor of the town. “We started thinking about it in 1995. We have been bottling water in Laqueuille for 20 years without the mountain drying up,” he retorts.
