Arrowhead Water facts for kids
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Market | Western United States |
| Produced by | BlueTriton Brands |
| Introduced | 1909 |
| Source | San Bernardino Mountains, California |
| Type | still |
| pH | 6.33-8.2 |
| Calcium (Ca) | 20.4 |
| Chloride (Cl) | 13.2 |
| Bicarbonate (HCO3) | 81.1 |
| Fluoride (F) | 0.1 |
| Magnesium (Mg) | 3.6 |
| Potassium (K) | 1.5 |
| Sodium (Na) | 11.1 |
| Sulfate (SO4) | 3.8 |
| TDS | 129 |
| All concentrations in milligrams per liter (mg/L); pH without units | |
Arrowhead Water is a popular brand of drinking water. It is also known as Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water. You can find it in the Western United States. This includes states like California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. The water comes from 13 different natural springs across these western states.
Contents
Discovering Arrowhead Water's Name
Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water gets its name from a special mark. This mark is on the side of the San Bernardino Mountains. It looks exactly like a giant arrowhead. This natural shape is not made by people. It is just how the mountain looks. The first water for Arrowhead came from cold springs. These springs are near Strawberry Creek. They are located in the San Bernardino National Forest.
Early Mentions of the Springs
The first time Europeans wrote about these springs was around 1820. Priests from Mission San Gabriel Arcángel mentioned them. In 1863, a man named David Noble Smith started a health center there. It was at a place called Arrowhead Springs. People went there to get help with different sicknesses. By the 1880s, the water from Arrowhead was famous. Many believed it had special healing powers. In the early 1900s, the hot springs became a popular place for vacations.
Arrowhead Water's Journey Through Time
In 1909, the Arrowhead Springs Company was created. They started selling their water in Southern California. The water traveled from Arrowhead Springs to Los Angeles. It was carried in special glass-lined train cars. In 1917, the company moved its bottling to a new factory in Los Angeles.
Growing the Water Business
In 1929, Arrowhead Springs Company joined with another company. This company sold Puritas water. After that, they sold both Arrowhead and Puritas products together. Puritas water had been sold in Los Angeles since 1894. Both brands were bottled in the same factories. They were sold together until the 1970s. Sometimes, bottles had only the Arrowhead or Puritas name. But often, they were labeled "Arrowhead and Puritas." The Arrowhead Beverage Company also bottled other drinks. These included seltzer, fruit sodas, and ginger ale.
Arrowhead and the Olympic Games
A big moment for the company happened in 1932. Arrowhead water was chosen as the official water for the Olympic Games. These games were held in Los Angeles that year. Arrowhead water was again part of the Olympic Games in 1984. The games were once more held in Los Angeles. In 1993, Arrowhead water bought the naming rights for a sports arena. It was then called the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim.
The Nestlé Years and Changes
In 1987, a large company called Nestlé bought Arrowhead waters. After this, you could see Arrowhead water bottles in many more supermarkets. They became very common across the Western United States. In 1996, the company started selling a new size bottle. It held 24 ounces of water. By the early 2000s, they also introduced flavored waters. "It's Better Up Here!" became a well-known saying for the Arrowhead Water brand. In 2006, they released a new bottle shape called Aquapod.
Water Rights Concerns
In 2015, a newspaper called The Desert Sun looked into Nestlé's water bottling. They found that Nestlé had been taking water from the San Bernardino National Forest. They had been doing this without a permit since 1988. People in the area and retired forest workers started to speak out. They were worried because the forest was suffering from drought. They felt the company was taking too much water.
In December 2017, California's water board investigated. They told Nestlé that the company did not have the right to about three-quarters of the water it was taking. This included water from the San Bernardino National Forest.
BlueTriton Takes Over
In April 2021, Nestlé Waters sold its bottling business in the United States. It was bought by One Rock Capital Partners LLC and Metropoulos & Co. The company then changed its name to BlueTriton Brands. Its main office is in Stamford, Connecticut. Also in April 2021, California regulators took action. They moved to stop Nestlé from taking water from the forest.
On September 19, 2023, California regulators gave a new order. They told the company to stop using most of the springs they had used for a long time. The regulators said the company did not have the proper water rights. They also said the company had drained the creek too much. This meant it could not support the animals that depended on it.
Today, the Arrowhead label says: "Proudly Sourced in British Columbia: Hope Springs, Hope B.C. Canada. Bottled for Bluetriton Brands Inc., Stamford CT."
See also
- Arrowhead Line
- Deer Park Spring Water
