New Zealand-based water bottlers are cashing in on picturesque Southern Alps landscapes, even if they’re based nowhere near them, the Beverage Council says.
Northland-based PH9 Plus Water this week updated its website, removing a reference to the water coming from the South Island of New Zealand, after the Sunday Star-Times began investigating an allegation that it was in fact bottled in the Ararimu Valley, West Auckland.
This is the source of much of the high-alkaline water currently sold in New Zealand shops.
Owner of Summer Flower Trading, which runs the brand, Nancy Xin said the water came from all over New Zealand.
She would not disclose the exact location.
READ MORE: Questionable claims about bottled New Zealand water to be sold in China "If people want to ask where the water comes from, I don’t bother with those things," she said.
Because New Zealand was a volcanic country, there were a number of natural alkaline water sources, although they sometimes had other materials in them that were not desirable, such as mercury.
"One of the things the industry is bad at is having websites with picturesque images of the South Alps but then you find the water is bottled nowhere near there.
People leverage off the back of the New Zealand story and the Southern Alps are sexier than a paddock in South Auckland."
There’s nothing wrong with most people’s water supply in New Zealand, anyway."