Answering your sustainability questions

In March 2021, BlueTriton became an independent company, focused on drinking water. We believe we can build a better water company, and part of that is being transparent and vocal about our new investments in sustainability. We’re proud of our record on water stewardship and conservation. In fact, some of our oldest brands have sourced water from many of the same springs for decades, and we are continuing to conserve them for their vitality tomorrow.

At BlueTriton, we are proud to be a leader in water stewardship and conservation. Our business is drinking water — and keeping our water sources sustainable is critical to keeping our business sustainable. Every day, we work to protect the springs we source from to continue conserving them and to sustainably source drinking water for today and tomorrow. We have a proven track record of successful long-term management of water resources in the states where we operate, and we work closely with state and local water agencies and environmental organizations on aquifer protection and recharge projects. In fact, we have a dedicated team of geologists, hydrogeologists, and engineers who understand the characteristics of each natural spring and how best to manage them.

We help conserve more than 20,000 acres of watershed land and wetlands. Our leadership in water stewardship has been certified by independent third parties under the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) standard for 13 of our 28 factories, the most in the U.S., and we have been awarded eight Platinum Certifications.

In 2022, we became the first beverage company to commit to The Water Council’s WAVE program for water stewardship, with a goal for our entire enterprise to be independently verified for water stewardship by 2025.

Actually, bottled water is a heavily regulated industry, which helps protect consumers and offers assurance that the bottled water you purchase is stringently regulated, tested, and of the highest quality. BlueTriton supports and complies with regulations in place for bottled water companies, which includes U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations; the federal Safe Drinking Water Act; and state, local, and industry standards.

BlueTriton conducts extensive aquifer monitoring and reporting as part of our contract and permitting process for Bella Luna Spring in Lincoln, Maine. The local water district has priority access to the water. The Lincoln Water District has the right to reduce or suspend the sale of water to Poland Spring to ensure safe and adequate service to its other customers, but in the five years of our partnership they have never needed to do so.

We have nearly two decades of water level monitoring data on the Cold Spring site in Denmark, and we actively monitor domestic wells and track surface water bodies such as ponds. We have not seen any adverse impacts from our operations. Our latest annual monitoring summary report shows long-term stable water levels at the Cold Spring site since production began. The town of Denmark also retains a third-party hydrogeologist and has a process to investigate any concerns.

We have been sustainably sourcing spring water in Chaffee County for 13 years. Extensive data is collected and reported annually with third-party reviews, and there is no evidence of adverse impacts to the aquifer. Beyond our science-driven practices, BlueTriton also invested in a significant habitat restoration project when we acquired the property and most recently placed 120 acres of springs property in a permanent conservation easement.

You may have seen that Poland Spring, a BlueTriton brand, proposed an amendment to Maine LD 1111, “Act Concerning Contracts and Agreements for Large-Scale Water Extraction,” a bill that has sparked interest from many people and organizations.

At BlueTriton, we take a principled approach to assessing proposed regulations, considering whether they incentivize investment in water infrastructure and in the local economy; whether they impact our ability to protect springs and provide access to safe, sustainably sourced drinking water; and whether they allow us to operate with the clarity any business requires. We are also committed to transparency and accountability, and are open about our involvement in the legislative process.

After thoughtful consideration, BlueTriton opposes the proposed legislation because it would result in a de facto ban on block water purchases. The new process proposed in the bill would make it unaffordable for any large-scale water purchaser, including Poland Spring, to invest in infrastructure and operations.

The current and proven process for large purchase contracts benefits local residents and consumers of public water utilities. It provides a guaranteed long-term source of income that allows local water districts to invest in and maintain water infrastructure.

This perspective is echoed by several local leaders including Maine’s Public Advocate, William Harwood and Jeffrey Day, Superintendent of Lincoln District, who are also on the record in opposition to this bill.

BlueTriton, like any other company, engages in the legislative process in good faith. During the last legislative session, we tried unsuccessfully to find a compromise that would have addressed the concerns raised while preserving the ability for water utilities to secure large purchase contracts. BlueTriton has publicly testified against the bill, and we will continue to share our position.

BlueTriton has recently filed suit to challenge the administrative order adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board on September 19, 2023. Although the order marks a radical departure from express statutory limitations on the SWRCB’s permitting authority over groundwater and established case law in California, BlueTriton will comply with the order unless otherwise authorized by the courts.

BlueTriton and its predecessors have collected water from Arrowhead Springs in Strawberry Canyon in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way for more than 125 years. Our rights to source groundwater used for our spring water are established pursuant to California law – there is no State permitting system for groundwater. We are proud of being good stewards of the environment and providing a product that supports healthy hydration and active lifestyles and is loved by Californians.

This ruling creates water rights uncertainty and negatively impacts every water agency and farmer in California that relies on groundwater, and in doing so, indirectly harms every Californian.

BlueTriton will vigorously defend its water rights through the available legal process. BlueTriton continues to comply with all state and federal laws as they apply to its water rights in California. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the local communities near our operations.

We’re always looking for ways to offer safe drinking water in convenient, more sustainable formats. We offer water in many formats, including refillable 5-gallon containers, water filtration systems, and aluminum and plastic bottles for those times when people need or want safe drinking water in a convenient, portable format. Our ReadyRefresh home and office delivery business is growing rapidly — bringing safe drinking water in a convenient, more sustainable format to more people.

To reduce our use of new plastics, we source more than 100 million pounds of recycled materials each year for our packaging. Our PET bottles are made from an average of 26% recycled materials, which is more than twice the industry average. By 2025, all BlueTriton’s products will be in packaging that is either reusable or made from an average of 35% recycled materials.

We’re also investing to improve America’s recycling infrastructure to make recycling more convenient and cost-effective and reduce waste — and we advocate for policy solutions to do the same.

At BlueTriton, we are proud to be a leader in water stewardship and conservation. Responsible and proactive water resource management is central to our company and is a core reason why BlueTriton and its predecessors have sourced water from many of the same springs for decades.

BlueTriton is wholly focused on water access and water stewardship. Over the last two years, we have set out to build a better water company – one that invests in natural resource protection and access to safe drinking water because we believe it creates value for our business, our investors, and our surrounding communities and ecosystems. Our business is drinking water — and keeping our water sources sustainable is critical to keeping our business sustainable.

We employ a dedicated team of geologists, hydrogeologists, and engineers who understand the characteristics of the natural springs we source from and manage them for long-term sustainability. They monitor the springs for water level, rates of flow, and other locally relevant indicators and actively adjust how much water is collected from each spring to reduce pressure on water resources amidst a changing climate. Overall, we use a portion of the water available for collection under our permits. In addition, BlueTriton safeguards more than 20,000 acres of land surrounding our springs and watersheds.

Additionally, we have committed to setting a near-term science-based emissions reduction target for our operations (Scope 1 & 2) and value chain (Scope 3) and we are partnering with global environmental non-profits to develop enterprise-wide contextual water targets and to quantify the nature- and community-related benefits of our spring and watershed protection efforts.

At BlueTriton, sustainability isn’t an obstacle to our success—it's essential to it. We are building a better water company by taking action that is focused on our people, the communities we serve, and the environment through continued water stewardship, climate action and circular packaging such as increasing rPET and reusable bottle use.

As a new company, BlueTriton was fortunate to look at past sustainability efforts and to reevaluate our activities, and to prioritize the most impactful sustainability actions we could take. During this process, we identified key sustainability pillars - water, packaging, and climate action, and used historical efforts to define near-term goals such as 3rd party water stewardship audits (e.g. pursuing enterprise-level verification under The Water Council’s WAVE program) and reusable or recycled content objectives for our packaging.

Sustainability is critical to the long-term future of this business, which is why our executive team is incentivized to deliver on our sustainability targets. Also, BlueTriton has committed to set a near-term science-based emissions reduction target for our operations (Scope 1 & 2) and value chain (Scope 3) and is partnering with global environmental non-profits to develop enterprise-wide contextual water targets and to quantify the nature- and community-related benefits of our spring and watershed protection efforts.

No. Immediately following the acquisition in 2021, BlueTriton accelerated capital investment in its business operations. Since becoming an independent company, we have completed nearly $745 million in capital projects. We recognize that responsible ownership means making strategic long-term investments today to have a sustainable business in the future.

According to BlueTriton’s Ginnie Spring monitoring data, the groundwater level is consistent with historical norms and the Santa Fe River flow continues to be strong even as BlueTriton has expanded production capacity in the factory. Groundwater levels in the vicinity of the production well have remained steady since 2020 and have not shown a downward trend. Furthermore, the USGS gauging stations above and below Ginnie Spring, on the Sante Fe River, continue to show gains in river flow between the 2 stations from 2020 to the present. This is clear evidence that Ginnie Spring continues to contribute large amounts of water to the Santa Fe River. BlueTriton looks forward to continuing our work to maintain the health and long-term sustainability of Ginnie Springs.

BlueTriton’s regional water collection increases as regional consumer demand increases. As population grows in certain parts of the U.S., such as Colorado, South Carolina, and Texas, we see corresponding demand for our products.

BlueTriton was pleased to see the U.S. Geological Service’s comprehensive approach to their initial inventory released in October. We have engaged with USGS to share our hydrogeologic knowledge, data, and expertise with USGS staff as part of their continued data-gathering, and we plan to provide supplemental data to improve the accuracy of USGS’ inventory and data collection.

At BlueTriton, we are proud to make sustainably-sourced spring water accessible for people to drink and will continue to be responsible water stewards.