Poland Spring
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Poland Spring is a brand of
bottled water Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., well water, distilled water, mineral water, or spring water) packaged in plastic or glass water bottles. Bottled water may be carbonated or not. Sizes range from small single serving bottles to large car ...
, produced in
Poland, Maine Poland is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,906 at the 2020 census. Set among rolling hills and numerous lakes, the town is home to Range Ponds State Park, which includes hiking trails and a pristine fres ...
. It is named after the original natural spring in the town of
Poland, Maine Poland is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,906 at the 2020 census. Set among rolling hills and numerous lakes, the town is home to Range Ponds State Park, which includes hiking trails and a pristine fres ...
it was drawn from. Today it is a subsidiary of BlueTriton Brands, formerly Nestlé Waters North America, and sold in the United States. The spring was first exploited commercially in 1859 by Hiram W. Ricker, owner of a nearby inn. Contemporary demand is so great the brand's water is derived from multiple sources in the state of Maine including Poland Spring and Garden Spring in Poland, Maine, Clear Spring in Hollis, Evergreen Spring in Fryeburg, Spruce Spring in Pierce Pond Township, White Cedar Spring in Dallas Plantation, and Bradbury Spring in Kingfield, and Cold Springs in Denmark. Poland Spring was the top-selling spring water brand in America in 2006. In 2007, the Poland Spring brand adopted a bottle using 30% less plastic, as did the other Nestlé Waters North America brands.


History

The spring dates back to the late 18th century. In 1797, The Wentworth Ricker Inn opened at the homestead of Jabez Ricker. In 1844, Jabez's grandson, Hiram W. Ricker claimed that spring water from the property cured him of chronic
dyspepsia Indigestion, also known as dyspepsia or upset stomach, is a condition of impaired digestion. Symptoms may include upper abdominal fullness, heartburn, nausea, belching, or upper abdominal pain. People may also experience feeling full earlier t ...
. In 1861, the inn was enlarged and renamed The Mansion House. The inn had grown to a resort, and his discussions with guests led them to also praise the drinking water. In this period, it was quite fashionable to "take the waters" for almost all illnesses, causing an uptick in business. The Rickers soon began bottling the water. Expanded again into an extravagant resort that locals dubbed "Ricker's Folly", the inn was renamed the Poland Spring House and opened On July 4, 1876. The inn remained a significant resort into the early 20th century, but the Ricker family lost control of the company during the 1930s. A resort still operates on the site. Poland Spring operated independently since its inception until it was purchased by the Perrier Water Company in 1980. In 1992 Nestle acquired Poland Spring when it took over the Perrier company. In March 2021, Nestle completed a $4.3 billion deal selling its North American bottled water brands, including Poland Spring, to two private-equity firms.


Water sales

Today Poland Spring sells the majority of its water in portable 8, 12, and 20 oz bottles; 500 ml, 700 ml, 1 L, and 1.5 L bottles, and also larger 5
gallon The gallon is a unit of volume in imperial units and United States customary units. Three different versions are in current use: *the imperial gallon (imp gal), defined as , which is or was used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Austral ...
bottles usable in office or in home water dispensers. Smaller 3 L, 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon bottles are also available for sale in most
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 ...
, and for home delivery in the
Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
. Other varieties of Poland Spring include sparkling,
lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
,
lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...
, and
distilled Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...
. They are also the producers of the Aquapod line of products. All Poland Spring products are sold in
plastic bottle A plastic bottle is a bottle constructed from high-density or low density plastic. Plastic bottles are typically used to store liquids such as water, soft drinks, motor oil, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, milk, and ink. The size ranges from v ...
s, for both safety and economic reasons. Today, no portable Poland Spring bottles are made from the number "7" polycarbonate plastic that contains
Bisphenol-A Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound primarily used in the manufacturing of various plastics. It is a colourless solid which is soluble in most common organic solvents, but has very poor solubility in water. BPA is produced on an industrial s ...
(BPA). The large 5-gallon bottles are made of number "1" plastic and are also BPA-free, while the 3-gallon bottles are made of number "7" plastic and may contain trace levels of BPA. Bottles made of PETE, which do not contain BPA (number "1" or "2" or "4" on bottom), started to appear in 2013; in some areas one may have only these bottles. They can be recognized by the different handle design (separate piece of plastic rather than a continuous molded element). In the summer of 2005, Poland Spring changed the color of its 1-gallon bottle cap from dark green to clear. The reason for the color change was to remove the dye from the cap, which is more suitable for the recycling stream. Poland Spring later changed to a lighter bottle called the Eco-Shape which uses 30 percent less plastic. The new style made its debút in November 2007.


Controversies

Several towns in Maine have objected to the business practices of Poland Spring and its parent company
Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
. In some towns, such as
Fryeburg, Maine Fryeburg is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,369 at the 2020 census. Fryeburg is home to Fryeburg Academy, a semi-private preparatory school, and the International Musical Arts Institute. The town is also s ...
, Poland Spring actually buys the water (110 million gallons of water from Fryeburg a year) from another company, the Fryeburg Water Co., and ships it to the Poland Spring bottling plant in Poland Spring. However, Fryeburg Water Co. also sells water to the town of Fryeburg. The town of Fryeburg began to question the amount of water the company was selling to Poland Spring. In 2004, the town's water stopped temporarily because of a pump failure, but Poland Spring's operations were able to continue. In 2004 the group H2O for ME began gathering support to create a tax on water drawn for commercial purposes. Poland Spring claimed the tax would force the company into
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
. State legislator Jim Wilfong proposed a 20 cent per gallon tax be allowed to be voted on in a referendum, but the measure was defeated. In April of 2019, the Maine Committee on Taxation considered a bill which would impose a 12 cents a gallon tax on companies that extract more than 1.5 million gallons for commercial bottling. Poland Spring, extracting approximately 950 million gallons per year, would have been the only company affected by the tax. In May of 2019 the committee voted, 9–2, against the bill, making it unlikely any tax would be enacted in the foreseeable future. The town of
Sterling, Massachusetts Sterling is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 7,985 at the 2020 census. History Sterling was first settled by Europeans in 1720 and was officially incorporated in 1781. Previous to its incorporation it was "t ...
, is attempting to prevent Poland Spring (Nestlé) from pumping spring water from conservation restricted town land. Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) has responded to an RFP issued by the Town of Clinton to purchase the Town of Clinton's Wekepeke aquifer water rights located in Sterling. In June 2003, Poland Spring was sued for
false advertising False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
in a
class action lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...
charging that their water that supposedly comes from springs, is in fact heavily treated common ground water. The suit also states, hydro-geologists hired by Nestlé found that another current source for Poland Spring water near the original site stands over a former trash and refuse dump, and below an illegal disposal site where human sewage was sprayed as fertilizer for many years. The suit was settled in September 2003, with the company not admitting to the allegations, but agreeing to pay $10 million in charity donations and discounts over the next 5 years. Nestlé continues to sell the same Maine water under the Poland Spring name. In August 2017, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Connecticut alleging that "Not one drop of Poland Spring Water emanates from a water source that complies with the
Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
definition of 'spring water'. The famous Poland Spring in Poland Spring, Maine, which defendant's labels claim is a source of Poland Spring Water, ran dry nearly 50 years ago." A Poland Spring spokeswoman responded that "Poland Spring is 100 percent spring water. The claims made in the lawsuit are without merit and an obvious attempt to manipulate the legal system for personal gain." Scientist Peter Gleick said that "Most of Nestle's waters are pumped from the ground, but the bigger issue that the regulatory definition of what really counts as spring water is really weak. No one is really looking over the shoulders of the bottled water companies." In March 2019, the district court judge dismissed the claims in the class-action lawsuit in Vermont out of the eleven northeastern states in favor of Nestle. The case will go forward in the state subclasses of the lawsuit in
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
,
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
,
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,
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
,
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
,
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,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
,
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, and
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
.


See also

* Poland Spring Bottling Plant and Spring House


References

{{Nestlé Bottled water brands BlueTriton brands 1845 establishments in Maine Food and drink companies established in 1845 Drink companies of the United States Food and drink companies based in Maine