Arrowhead Water, also known as Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, is a brand of

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

that is sold in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

, particularly in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is bottled from 13 springs throughout the Western United States.

Discovery

Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water takes its name from a natural mark in the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...

that is shaped like a giant arrowhead. The arrowhead is naturally barren; it is not manicured in any way. Nearby cold springs on

Strawberry Creek Strawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the city of Berkeley, California. Two forks rise in the Berkeley Hills of the California Coast Ranges, and form a confluence at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. T ...

in the

San Bernardino National Forest The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States national forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernar ...

are the original source and namesake of Arrowhead water. The first documented reference by Europeans to Arrowhead springs (Agua Caliente) was in records of priests stationed at

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel Mission San Gabriel Arcángel () is a Californian mission and historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. It was founded by the Spanish Empire on the Nativity of Mary September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become twenty-one Spanish mi ...

, around 1820. David Noble Smith was the founder of the first sanitarium facilities at Arrowhead Springs in 1863, which were used to treat patients with tuberculosis and numerous other ailments. By the 1880s, the Arrowhead waters were famous for their supposed curing powers. By the early 20th century, the hot springs were a popular resort for tourism and vacationing.

History

In 1909, the Arrowhead Springs Company was formed and the company's water products were marketed in Southern California. The water was transported from Arrowhead Springs, north of San Bernardino, California, to Los Angeles in glass-lined railroad tank cars. In 1917, the bottling operations moved to a new plant in Los Angeles. In 1929, the Arrowhead Springs Company merged with the company that marketed Puritas water, and began co-marketing the Puritas products with Arrowhead water. Puritas water products were first introduced in Los Angeles in 1894. The Arrowhead and Puritas brands were bottled in the same plants and co-marketed until the 1970s. Arrowhead Springs marketed the brands in separate containers that sometimes carried the Arrowhead or Puritas names alone, but containers were often labeled "Arrowhead and Puritas." The Arrowhead Beverage Company was the bottler for many different brands of water and soft drinks including seltzer, fruit-flavored soda, and ginger ale. In 1932, another important development for the company happened in the Los Angeles area, as it was named the official water refreshment of that year's

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, held at the ''City of the Stars''. Arrowhead water returned to the Olympic Games again in 1984, when the games were again held in Los Angeles. In 1993, Arrowhead water bought the naming rights for the

Arrowhead Pond Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) is an indoor arena located in Anaheim, California. The arena is home to the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League. Originally named the Anaheim Arena during construction, it w ...

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...

The Nestlé era

In 1987, Arrowhead waters was bought by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

. Soon after, the presence of Arrowhead water bottles in

supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

across the

grew considerably. In 1996, a bottle was introduced by the company. By the early 2000s, the company had introduced waters with different flavors to the market. ''It's Better Up Here!'' is a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

ed tagline for the Arrowhead Water

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

. In 2006, the label released Aquapod under the same brand umbrella. Southern Californian newspaper ''

The Desert Sun ''The Desert Sun'' is a local daily newspaper serving Palm Springs and the surrounding Coachella Valley in Southern California. History First issued on August 5, 1927, as a weekly six-page newspaper, ''The Desert Sun'' grew with the desert co ...

'' investigated Nestlé's bottling activities in 2015 and published findings that the water company had been operating in the San Bernardino National Forest without a permit since its last one expired in 1988. Local activists and retired forest personnel began to organize opposition to the Swiss company's continued withdrawal of water from a forest that is struggling from drought and bark beetles. In December, 2017, the California Water Resources Control Board notified Nestlé that an investigation had concluded that the company does not have proper rights to about three-quarters of the water it withdraws for bottling, including water from the

BlueTriton

In early April 2021, Nestlé Waters' bottling operations in the United States were sold to One Rock Capital Partners LLC and Metropoulos & Co. The unit rebranded to BlueTriton Brands, based in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...

. In April 2021, California regulators moved to stop

from siphoning water from the forest. On September 19, 2023, California regulators ordered the company to stop using a majority of the springs they've been relying upon for the past century. Regulators stated that the company does not have the water rights and that they have drained the creek to the point where it can't sustain the wildlife that is dependent upon it. The label now reads as follows: "Proudly Sourced in British Columbia: Hope Springs, Hope B.C. Canada. Bottled for Bluetriton Brands Inc., Stamford CT."

References

External links