Arrowhead Water, also known as Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, is a brand of drinking water that is sold in the western United States, particularly in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, the Northwest, and in California. It is bottled from 13 springs throughout the Western United States.

Discovery

Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water takes its name from a natural mark in the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

that is shaped like a giant arrowhead. The arrowhead is naturally barren; it is not manicured in any way. Nearby cold springs on

Strawberry Creek Strawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the city of Berkeley, California. Two forks rise in the Berkeley Hills of the California Coast Ranges, and form a confluence at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. Th ...

in the San Bernardino National Forest are the original source and namesake of Arrowhead water. The first documented reference by Europeans to Arrowhead springs (Agua Caliente) was in records of priests stationed at

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel Mission San Gabriel Arcángel ( es, Misión de San Gabriel Arcángel) is a Californian mission and historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. It was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September ...

, around 1820. David Noble Smith was the founder of the first sanitarium facilities at Arrowhead Springs in 1863, which were used to treat patients with tuberculosis and numerous other ailments. By the 1880s, the Arrowhead waters were famous for their supposed curing powers. By the early 20th century, the hot springs were a popular resort for tourism and vacationing.

History

In 1909, The Arrowhead Springs Company was formed and the company's water products were marketed in Southern California. The water was transported from Arrowhead Springs, north of San Bernardino, California, to Los Angeles in glass-lined railroad tank cars. In 1917, the bottling operations moved to a new plant in Los Angeles. In 1929, the Arrowhead Springs Company merged with the company that marketed Puritas water, and began co-marketing the Puritas products with Arrowhead water. Puritas water products were first introduced in Los Angeles in 1894. The Arrowhead and Puritas brands were bottled in the same plants and co-marketed until the 1970s. Arrowhead Springs marketed the brands in separate containers that sometimes carried the Arrowhead or Puritas names alone, but containers were often labeled "Arrowhead and Puritas." The Arrowhead Beverage Company was the bottler for many different brands of water and soft drinks including seltzer, fruit-flavored soda, and ginger ale. In 1932, another important development for the company happened in the Los Angeles area, as it was named the official water refreshment of that year's Olympic Games, held at the ''City of the Stars''. Arrowhead water returned to the Olympic Games again in 1984, when the games were again held in Los Angeles. In 1993, Arrowhead water bought the naming rights for the

Arrowhead Pond The Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) is an indoor arena located in Anaheim, California. The arena is home to the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League. Originally named the Anaheim Arena during construction, i ...

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

The Nestlé era

In 1987, Arrowhead waters was bought by Nestlé. Soon after, the presence of Arrowhead water bottles in

supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

across the Western United States grew considerably. In 1996, a bottle was introduced by the company. By the early 2000s, the company had introduced waters with different flavors to the market. ''It's Better Up Here!'' is a trademarked tagline for the Arrowhead Water brand. In 2006, the label released Aquapod under the same brand umbrella. Southern Californian newspaper '' the Desert Sun'' investigated Nestlé's bottling activities in 2015 and published findings that the water company had been operating in the San Bernardino National Forest without a permit since its last one expired in 1988. Local activists and retired forest personnel began to organize opposition to the Swiss company's continued withdrawal of water from a forest that is struggling from drought and bark beetles. In December, 2017, the California Water Resources Control Board notified Nestlé that an investigation had concluded that the company does not have proper rights to about three-quarters of the water it withdraws for bottling, including water from the San Bernardino National Forest. In April, 2021, California regulators moved to stop Nestlé from siphoning water from the forest.

BlueTriton

In early April 2021, Nestlé Waters' bottling operations in the United States were sold to One Rock Capital Partners LLC and Metropoulos & Co. The unit rebranded to BlueTriton Brands, based in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

References

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