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Highland Spring...

Postby Monique

http://www.worldsnooker.com/PTC1_news%2 ... tm?tid=166
Backstage Insight

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Virtually every time you watch snooker on television, you see top stars like Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis reaching for Highland Spring water. Have you every wondered where that water comes from? If so, read on...

Highland Spring Group is the UK’s largest supplier of bottled water, operating five rural production sites (four in Scotland and one in Wales) employing in excess of 400 staff. They have been the official water supplier to all of World Snooker’s professional tournaments in the UK for over 15 years and have been bottling water since 1979. Though in fact, at the heart of every bottle is a story which goes back a bit further than that.

The company is based in a 1,000 hectare site in the Ochil Hills in Perthshire, Scotland, where ancient red sandstone and basalt layers, which now form a remarkable filtration system, were formed 400 million years ago. The area has long been renowned for the quality of its water – indeed in 1503, King James IV of Scotland issued a Royal Charter sanctioning Blackford Beer, which was made with water from the Ochil Hills, as his Coronation Ale.

So how does the water get from the sky into those distinctive Highland Spring bottles? The water initially falls as rain on to the Highland Spring catchment area where the rocks in the hills are heavily fragmented, this enables the rain water to enter fissures in the rock and seep gently down underground.

Eventually it ends up in springs far down in the valley, but before it gets there, the Highland Spring team intercept a small proportion of it, by drilling bore holes into the water aquifer…a bit like taking oil from an oil well. A carefully designed system ensures that they only pump water from deep underground. The product is very cold and of consistent temperature all year round, around 7 degrees, this is a classic measure to ensure the water the company bottles has been sourced from a deep underground location.

Indeed, the water they extract is, on average, 15 years old, and they know this because they can analyse samples and determine when it originally fell as rain. The age of the water gives it its quality because any bacteria will have died off, as they have nothing to feed on when once the water is in rock. Over time, tiny amounts of minerals from the rock, such as calcium, sodium and magnesium, dissolve into the water, and it is these minerals that give each naturally sourced water its distinctive composition.

The UK & EU bottled water regulations, under which Highland Spring must comply, are very strict and state that the water is not allowed to be treated. It must be of ‘drinkable’ quality, both microbiologically and chemically, straight from the ground. The complicated part of Highland Spring’s business is to get the water out of the ground and into a bottle without altering its natural composition in any way.

As a mark of how well they do this, the Highland Spring Group was the first and remains the only major bottled water supplier to have been awarded organic accreditation for its land. This accreditation from the prestigious Soil Association was granted back in 2001 and remains in place today. In order to have achieved organic status, Highland Spring must demonstrate that they operate a protected catchment area free from pesticides, fertilisers, animal husbandry and human habitation. In addition there are no industries in the area which might cause air or ground pollution.

However, without a consistent source of good quality water the excellent practices outlined above would be of little use. Just as well then that Highland Spring’s catchment area is at the high point between the Forth Valley and the Tay Valley, which means that they have ‘first crack’ at the water. In fact, the company currently only bottles around 2% of the water that falls on its land, making it an incredibly sustainable and environmentally friendly business.

Once pumped from the hills, the water is piped into the factory via food grade stainless steel pipes ready to be bottled, and again the regulations require that it cannot be treated. Products like milk or fruit juice are pasteurized or have preservatives added, but water has to go straight into the bottle without any treatment. The only permitted addition being an injection of food grade carbon dioxide to make the sparkling water.

The team works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, producing 90,000 bottles every hour. Of those, around 20,000 bottles are supplied to World Snooker every year. So now you know why Ronnie, Stephen and co are never left high and dry.

You can read more about the UK’s leading water brand at http://www.highland-spring.com/


This is another novelty. WPBSA devoting articles to their sponsors.
Well I read it with pleasure and interest and I think it's a good idea to give exposure to the sponsors. Certainly an idea that could only help them find more sponsors ...


Everything is very impressive about Highland Spring I must say, except their tartan pattern. THAT is really terrible. :roll:

Re: Highland Spring...

Postby Roland

The water is not bad at all, the tartan is :vom:

Re: Highland Spring...

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:The water is not bad at all, the tartan is :vom:


Water is Water.....open the tap and presto it comes out lol

Re: Highland Spring...

Postby Roland

So you can't tell the difference between good and bad water? When I was in France the water coming out of the tap was from the same springs as Evian water and it was awesome to drink and shower in. York water tastes like complete rubbish in contrast.

Re: Highland Spring...

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:So you can't tell the difference between good and bad water? When I was in France the water coming out of the tap was from the same springs as Evian water and it was awesome to drink and shower in. York water tastes like complete rubbish in contrast.

im not a water drinker and possibly drinking rubbish water as a kid put me right off it.

Re: Highland Spring...

Postby Rocket_ron

Sonny wrote:So you can't tell the difference between good and bad water? When I was in France the water coming out of the tap was from the same springs as Evian water and it was awesome to drink and shower in. York water tastes like complete poo in contrast.

amazing that :love:

Re: Highland Spring...

Postby SnookerFan

Good for the sponsor, I guess. I mean, an article on bottled water is never going to catch the eye, particularly, but they should be thanked. They are the only long-running sponsor that snooker have left, and it is very noticable when you see the player's take big swigs of it. In a sport desperate for sponsors, they should be thanked. :bowdown: