"two wells 1,100 feet deep near the Town Hall. "(RMIL)
The Dallas Morning News Page 9A Sunday, 25 October 1992
WATER BOTTLERS' CLAIMS OF SPRING SOURCES CALLED IMPURE.
Continued from Page 1A. Estimates are that half the spring water in the country comes from drilled holes. But competitors, hydrogeologists and some state regulators are beginning to ask whether it is
fair to consumers that water pumped from what many call drilled wells can be labeled spring water, "the gold standard of bottled water," according to Kim Jeffery, executive vice president of the
Perrier Group, which owns Poland Spring. It is a debate that could intensify as competitors in the bottled water 'industry, whose sales grew annually at double digits through the 1980s but have since
slowed, fight for market share.
PURE DEFINITION
Before the boom in bottled water, there was virtually no argument over the definition of a spring water flowing under its own pressure through a natural opening to the surface of the Earth. But that
was clouded by a debate over spring water that began when some states expanded their regulatory definition to say that water pumped from bore holes adjacent to springs could be called spring
water.
"The thing that's a little bit loosey-goosey is when you get into what's really a spring, what's really a well and what's the difference between the water," said Kenneth Banister, senior hydrogeologist
with Wagner, Heindel and Noyes, an environmental consulting firm in Vermont.
About half the states have adopted regulations on labeling spring water, and most allow water taken
from adjacent drilled holes to be sold as spring water.
In the absence of purity questions, the issue of spring water has me one of marketing in the bottled water industry, which had sales of $2.6 billion last year. Spring water is a vital niche in the
bottled-water industry.
The New England Bottled Water Association, for instance, has 42 members who deal in spring water, from the two behemoths Poland Spring and Belmont Springs in Massachusetts to smaller
companies, such as Vermont Pure in Randolph, Vt., and the Pequot Springwater Co. of Glastoobury; Conn. As a comparison, Poland Spring did $131 million in businessin 1991, and
Vermont Pure did $3 million.
VARIED APPROACHES
The sources of the water, extraction methods, approaches to labeling and willingness to talk about their product among New England companies contacted recently appeared as varied as the companies themselves. Officials at Monadnock Mountain Spring Water, which bills itself as "New Hampshire's Own"" and whose labels feature snow-capped peaks, did not return numerous calls.
The labels list their source as Monadnock Spring in Wilton, N.H., 20 miles from Mount Monadnock. A New Hampshire official, who was asked not to be identified, said the company's water is pumped from a hole drilled near a spring on the banks of the Souhegan River.
Another New Hampshire company, Occasions Ltd., labels its water Four Seasons, Spring Water
Inc. It calls its water "New Hampshire's Very Own" and lists the source as Four seasons, Peterborough, N.H. The same New Hampshire official said the Peterborough site gets its water
from drilled wells, not springs, and that by incorporating spring water as part of its name, the company can get those words onto the label. Officials at Occasions Ltd. would not agree to an
interview and said they would only entertain questions in writing.
At Vermont Pure, on the other hand, chief executive officer Jack Maguire invites visitors to his company's spring on a high field in Randloph Center. There, water flows naturally into a man-made,
underground catch basin, from which it is transported by truck to the bottling plant.
Mr. Maguire said that he understands the debate over spring water and that a better definition "will be good for the industry."
"lt has nothing to do with purity," Mr. Maguire said. "It's a marketing issue: Should I pay this much for that?"
Ronald Sustana, executive vice president of Castle Springs, which opened in July on the grounds of the famous in the Clouds overlooking New Hampshire' Lake Winnipesaukee, is in agreement. "You
can't slam non-spring waters," he said recently. "But if somebody wants pure, honest-to God natural spring water, they ought to be able to trust what's on the label."
COMPLICATED CASE
The Poland Spring case is complicated use the company says its springs reach the Earth's surface in the depths of Lower Range Pond, beside which its holes have been drilled.
That has caused problems for the company in Georgia, where the state and Poland Spring are embroiled in a court battle and where the agriculture commissioner, Tommy Irvin, raised the issue of
labeling of spring water at the recent annual national convention of the heads of state agriculture departments, which often have oversight over bottled water.
Mr. Irvin, in a telephone interview, said that Poland Spring's problem with saying its water comes from a spring is that "they don't have one."
"They've got lake water and they want to label it spring water," he said. "He's simply not correct," said Mr. Jeffery. He said the water "comes from the base of a real spring, a subaqueous spring.", That spring is under Lower Range Pond.
John Robertson, a hydrogeologist and consultant to the Perrier Group said that he is confident of the company's Maine springs because "all four wells produce the same water."
Mr. Jeffery said that by moving "to intercept the water on its way to where it emerges into a spring-fed lake," the company is protecting the water's purity.
Yet that is not the issue to critics. "We're not saying there's anything wrong with the water,". Mr.Irvin said. "We're saying that if you're going to pay a premium thinking you're getting spring
water, that's what you ought to get."
Distributed by Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire. |
