We have recently received a number of messages from our customers complaining
about an off taste or smell in recently purchased casks and bottles of Noble’s Pureau.
After receiving the first of these complaints we immediately had the
water from the affected batches tested for a number of potential contaminants
including Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (petrol, kerosene, paint thinners etc)
Volatile Organic Compounds (ammonia, chlorine etc) Semi Volatile Organics
(pesticides, herbicides etc). We have also had further batches tested since the original complaints.
All have come up “non-detected” or under drinking water
guidelines. The lab results show that the water from the affected batches is
non-toxic and does not contain any compounds at any levels that could cause a
safety risk to customers.
After we received the first of the complaints our Quality Assurance team
immediately reviewed our purification system and discovered that, following a
maintenance procedure, during three weeks in December we had one component of our
filtration system off-line – pre-treatment on Reverse Osmosis Unit 3.
Pre-treatment is the component of the purification system that removes the
chlorine, chloramines and trihalomethanes present in Sydney Water (our water supply).
Having this section off meant that the water, while still going through
our Reverse Osmosis and bio-filtration units, would have had trace amounts of
chlorine, chloramines and trihalomethanes present (in lesser amounts than in Sydney
Water) as the water did not pass through pre-filtration.
We believe that the absence of any other inorganic compounds is magnifying
the taste of the chlorine/chloramines/trihalomethanes. And while there is a
taste and an odour present in some casks and bottles, not all are affected.
We would like to apologise for this lapse in our purification and
quality standards. We immediately fixed the issue and all water with a best before date of
28/12/13 onwards is complying to our usual quality standards. We expect this
water to commence appearing in supermarkets from the first week of January
onwards.
We are offering full refunds to all of our customers who purchased
affected Pureau over this period and are unhappy with the product. If you are unhappy with the water we
recommend that you dispose of it and contact us via the website feedback form with
your name and address for your refund.
Once again, we apologise for this lapse in our usual high purification
and quality standards. We understand that it is an upsetting incident for our
loyal customers and will do everything in our power to ensure that it never
happens again.