The European Commission has referred France to the European Court of Justice for the second time over persistently high levels of nitrate pollution found in drinking water in Brittany.

In March of this year the Commission decided to defer for three months in view of action proposed by France to alleviate the nitrate levels but little has been done. Most of the pollution is caused by run off from intensive farming and bad agricultural practices.

The safety of drinking water in Brittany has been in question since 2001 when the Court of Justice ruled that France had failed to fulfil it's obligations to keep the levels of nitrates below 50 mg/l, the Court stated that 37 rivers in Brittany contained concentrations exceeding this level.

Since then, France has implemented a small number of measures aimed at reducing the volume of nitrates spread over agricultural land. However, those measures have proved to be insufficient for nine rivers. In March 2007 France proposed an additional action plan to ensure that those rivers would subsequently comply. The Commission considered that this plan has not been fully carried out.

Consequently, given France's failure to comply with the first judgement, the Commission confirmed its decision to refer the matter to the Court a second time, whilst remaining open to actively pursuing discussions on the issue with the French authorities. The Commission proposes to ask the Court to impose on France a lump-sum fine of over €28 million and a daily penalty payment of €117 882.

Many households in Brittany refuse to drink tap water of fears of pollution levels preferring to buy bottled water from supermarkets.

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