Poland Spring water is not actually spring water, lawsuit claims

A lawsuit has claimed that one of the world’s largest mineral water companies, Poland Spring, is falsely claiming that it is selling spring water.

A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled that the lawsuit against Poland Spring and its former owner, Nestle, should be allowed to continue.

He noted the plaintiffs’ claim that Poland Spring comes from man-made boreholes, some of which tap into nearby ponds, and that the original spring shut down decades ago.

Newsweek reached out to Nestle, Primo Brands and Poland Springs via email for comment on Friday.

Why It Matters

The case speaks to a larger debate about what constitutes spring water and whether the claims of bottled water companies are accurate.

Poland Spring runs the world’s largest water bottling plant in Hollis, Maine. The 838,000-square-foot plant produces about 80 million cases of water every year, according to National Geographic.

In October 2023, The New York Times ran an investigation in which it said that the original Poland Spring in Poland, Maine, is no longer operational.

“When Maine lawmakers tried to tighten regulations on large-scale access to water, the brand’s little-known parent company set out to rewrite the rules,” the article said.

It also stated that the original spring that gave the brand its name is at the back of a golf course and has long been exhausted.

What To Know

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses the former Nestle Waters North America of defrauding consumers by labeling Poland Spring as “spring water.”

In a December 30 ruling, Connecticut Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer dismissed some of the claims against Nestle. However, he said it was still to be determined whether Poland Spring qualified as spring water.

While the case began against Nestle, Poland Spring is now owned by Tampa, Florida-based Primo Brands.

The lawsuit, taken by a group of consumers, says Poland Spring should not be advertising itself as “Natural Spring Water” or “100% Natural Spring Water.”

They said the original spring had dried up long before Nestle purchased Poland Spring in 1992.

In seeking summary judgment against the plaintiffs, Nestle Waters said geologists and officials in the eight states agreed that Poland Spring complied with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s definition of “spring water.”

A summary judgment is rarely granted. According to federal court courts, it is given if “there is no genuine dispute as to any facts of the case.”

What People Are Saying

In his ruling, Judge Meyer noted, “The report of plaintiffs’ expert, Dr. Donald Siegel, raises genuine fact questions about whether PSW [Poland Spring Water] is ‘spring water.'”

“For instance, Dr. Siegel points to evidence that some of Nestlé’s alleged springs are man-made, which would violate the regulation. Likewise, he offers evidence that Nestlé extracted pond water and other surface water from some of its bore holes, rather than ‘true’ spring water,” Meyer wrote.

“He provides evidence that the water extracted from Nestlé’s bore holes differs substantially from the water that emerges naturally from the spring orifice.”

“These examples are just a few of many along the same lines, and raise doubts about whether any of Nestlé’s water comes from sources meeting the federal or state [regulations],” he wrote.

“At a minimum, the record contains sufficient factual disputes to preclude summary judgment.”

What Happens Next

Now that Meyer has allowed the case to continue, the plaintiffs will seek the disclosure of documents from Poland Springs. The case will continue in the Connecticut court.