Valeriya Potapova / DreamstimeFood policy writer Baylen Linnekin looks at a lawsuit against Poland Spring, accused of improperly labeling its product as “spring water”:

This isn’t the first time Poland Spring has landed in hot water (so to speak) over its marketing claims. The company settled a 2003 class-action lawsuit, filed in state court in Connecticut, that claimed, the New York Times reported at the time, “Nestlé draws its water from a site 30 miles away from the original Poland Spring and often uses ground water and a spring that is near the site of a former garbage dump.”

Bottled water sales and marketing are tightly regulated. Though there are myriad rules that apply to bottled water, no rules require a bottled water maker to identify its source.

For example, neither Aquafina (Pepsi) nor Dasani (Coca-Cola) claims to be a “spring water.” Both source their water from municipal water supplies. They sell packaged tap water, in other words, and don’t claim otherwise.

Fiji, on the other hand, markets its spring water as “spring water.” Its spring water comes from springs in Fiji.

When a seller chooses to make claims about its source—such as Fiji and Poland Spring—then they open themselves up both to government scrutiny and lawsuits if those claims are of dubious validity.

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