On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, there was an explosion at the Volvic water plant in Puy-de-Dôme, which caused “significant damage” and its technical shutdown, as we learned on Wednesday from the public prosecutor’s office in Clermont-Ferrand.
“Our Volvic production facilities were victims of a malicious act” without any injuries, Volvic (Danone group) management told AFP. A sign was found on the wall: “Water extractivism? No, but in the water,” prosecutor Dominique Puechmaille confirmed to La Montagne newspaper and BFM TV.
Suspicion of a voluntary act
A source close to the case, which in view of the findings evokes a voluntary act, specifies that the damage affected a building with an area of 20 m2 on the site, a technical room according to the indictment.
A complaint was made and an investigation launched by the Gendarmerie Research Section to try to clarify how the events unfolded.
Restart postponed
“It was not produced today because it is May 1st. Production was supposed to start tomorrow (Thursday, editor’s note), which will not be possible,” explained Volvic’s management. “All our teams are being mobilized to restart as quickly as possible,” the same source said.
“The damage is of a technical nature and has no impact on water quality,” assured Volvic, “with the greatest determination condemning this act, which aims to damage the activities of the historic local society.”