Spring creates cash flow for Marianna couple
Thirsty people worldwide can now enjoy pure, natural water from a spring in West Florida Electric Cooperative’s service area. Spring water wholesaler Natural Water, LLC, is tapping a source on Dr. and Mrs. Arnold Lambe’s property in Marianna to meet a rapidly-growing demand for bottled drinking water.
Based in Holly Hill, Fla., Natural Water supplies the bottled water industry by locating, testing, surveying and permitting natural springs and specialty waters throughout the U. S. After researching survey maps to find a potential site, the company contacts the property owners about further exploration.
Because Florida’s lakes, rivers and springs are considered public resources, property owners such as the Lambes can only own the land around bodies of water but not the water outright. Therefore, the Lambes’ lease agreement with Natural Water merely grants access to the spring near their house.
As a natural resource and as a beverage for human consumption, spring water for bottling, as well as its extraction, must meet stringent state, federal and trade standards. The state inspects, samples, analyzes and approves bottled water sources. Additionally, Florida property owners must obtain the state water management district’s permission to withdraw more than 100,000 gallons a day, use a pipe six inches or larger to withdraw water from the aquifer or use a pipe four inches or larger to withdraw surface water.
The federal Food and Drug Administration regulates bottled water as a food product, with specific guidelines for quality, labeling and processing. The International Bottled Water Association also maintains a set of standards even more rigorous than state or federal requirements. For instance, the IBWA stipulates that bottled water labeled "spring water" must be derived from an underground source that flows naturally to the earth’s surface and must be collected only at the spring or through a bore hole tapping the underground formation.
Natural Water looks for springs that flow sufficiently that the company can withdraw water without damaging the environment. "This water eventually goes into the Chipola, then the Appalachicola and then the Gulf," explained Natural Water hydrogeologist Art Hayes. "We certainly don’t want to cause harm to the ecosystem or deplete the aquifer."
Flowing an average of 20 million gallons of high-quality water per day, the spring on the Lambe property easily fulfills volume and composition criteria. "We were absolutely delighted when the water quality tests came back," Hayes said.
The spring on the Lambes’ property is part of a cluster of springs connected by a cave system. During Natural Water’s preliminary exploration of the site, divers entered and mapped the caverns surrounding the spring. "The beauty of having the cave divers go in is that, when they placed radio transmitters in certain positions on the floor of the cave, we could actually picture what the underground terrain looked like," Hayes said. "Once we had a reproduction of it on the surface, we could drill directly into the cave."
The drillers broke into the cave’s ceiling at 93 feet and installed a four-inch test well. They then constructed a production well meeting municipal public water supply standards, with a ten-inch casing, stainless steel pipe and surface contamination-preventive features.
Industry standards mandate that water labeled "spring water" may be filtered but not chemically treated. However, wholesalers are allowed to ozonate the water – that is, inject it with oxygen – to reduce the likelihood of bacterial contamination, especially during transport.
The spring’s location in Florida provides a convenient point for shipping water to the hurricane-plagued Carribean islands, Hayes noted. A relative newcomer to the bottled water industry, Florida ranks third in production, behind California and Texas, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, a global beverage industry consulting firm.
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