Water Source Identification

How do we showcase our water sources? We’re glad you asked! Origin® Natural Spring Water identifies its water sources on its bottled water labels and online.

Bottled water products from each Origin bottling line are tested 250 times annually for quality. That’s no small amount! What can we say? We really, really, really care about quality.

Water Quality Reports

Since 2005, we have made quality reports publicly available for all of our bottled water brands based on independent testing results from certified laboratories. As the saying goes, “Knowledge is power!” And we’re all about that knowledge (and that water). Easy Consumer Access to Information: Consumer questions and comments can be directed to our toll-free number, which is listed on the label of each bottle.

Easy Consumer Access to Information

Consumer questions and comments can be directed to our toll-free number, which is listed on the label of each bottle. So give us a call! We’d love to chat.

Storage and Handling

To maintain the high quality of our bottled water products, we recommend people store all of our products in a cool, clean or shaded location, as they would any other packaged food product. Remember: getting too much sun isn’t great for anyone — or great for our water.

Food Packaging Safety & Regulation

Every detail of safety counts — right down to the packaging. We use packaging that fits into the lives of today’s busiest folks and is considered safe by regulatory and public health agencies. We take a look at new packaging materials and make changes to our products when there’s a clear environmental, health and/or economic benefit.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for overseeing the safety of bottled water, which, like other food products, like infant formula and seafood, must be processed, packaged, shipped and stored in a safe and sanitary manner, and be truthfully and accurately labeled. Bottled water is one of the most regulated food products; the FDA has protocols specific to bottled water processing and labeling.

Chemicals from plastic packaging can migrate over time, but the FDA sets conservative limits for the amounts it considers safe for human consumption. Poland Spring and our suppliers comply with the FDA’s packaging and health-based regulations.

All of our “single-serve” bottles from 8 ounces to 3 liter that are made from non-recycled PET #1 plastic, as well as our 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon bottles made from non-recycled HDPE #2 plastic, are completely BPA-free. The FDA classifies PET as safe for human use and has authorized its use for decades. PET itself is an inert substance, meaning it does not react, dissolve or degrade when exposed to water or the environment. It also only generates extremely low traces of PET by-products which evaporate readily or migrate very slowly.

Our rPET bottles are made from recycled PET plastic that is carefully collected, screened and sorted to keep other types of plastics from entering the rPET manufacturing process. Given the nature and variability of the recycling streams, however, a small fraction of rPET bottles may contain trace levels of other types of plastics which, in turn, could result in trace levels of BPA in the low parts per trillion range. For this reason, we consider our rPET water bottles virtually BPA free. All of our 5-gallon bottles are now made of PET #1 plastic, which is BPA-free. Our 3-gallon bottles are currently made from polycarbonate #7 plastic, a strong, clear and reusable type of plastic. In tests, water packaged in our polycarbonate bottles has been found to contain trace levels (less than 1 part per billion) of BPA. Based on consumer preference, we are planning to transition our 3-gallon bottles to BPA-free plastic water bottles in the future — and could be coming to a store near you.

Recycling and Reuse of Water Bottles

Because our single-serve bottles are lightweight in nature, they’re intended to be used just once (we do not recommend refilling them). Washing with certain types of detergents can result in degradation of the polymer and should be avoided (no surprise there).

Our 3- and 5-gallon home and office delivery containers can be returned to the factory for washing and refilling, but never fear! We take care to use the right detergent types and washing conditions to ensure effective cleaning without degrading the polymer.

The benefit of water bottle recycling is that it keeps materials out of landfills. Recycling your bottles helps close the loop on PET plastic, and we encourage all our consumers to recycle — don’t throw those bottles away when you’re done with them!