From Cloud to Can: How We Bottle Our Spring Water

The spring water that you will find in every can of RAIN is bottled at the spring source and treated very little.  We are proud to say that our spring water is of the same chemical quality in the can as it is at the spring.  There are of course a few steps we take prior to packaging to ensure the quality of the water and certain food safety obligations.

The RAIN spring source is located deep in the Appalachian Mountains, protected by over 50 miles from any heavy industrial manufacturing or potential sources of contamination.  The spring water boils out of the ground, with no mechanical aid at over 200 gallons per minute.  Our first step begins right here at the spring.  Long before RAIN, a previous operator established a passive spring water collection system.  One that allows the water to flow naturally into the buried pipe, plumbed directly to the bottling facility.

Once in the bottling facility, the water is first passed through an Ultraviolet disinfectant water column.  This is the first step in food safety, one that ensures that any microorganisms are eliminated.  From this UV system, the water is temporarily stored in 10,000 gallon tanks- what we would call a “buffer tank”.  Simply put this tank allows us to have a “buffer” of water between production and the spring.  One that we can pump and hold and pipe and move.

Following buffering, the spring water is sent to a second UV system, 5um and 1um filtration.  These large orifice filters are in place to remove any natural debris, like small pieces of silica(sand) that might naturally be in the water and would otherwise make for a less-than-enjoyable experience.  Finally, and immediately prior to bottling the spring water is Ozonated before spending the next few weeks in the aluminum can.

Ozone or O3 is a disinfecting gas, one we bubble through the water and allow it to temporarily bind to the H2O.  Oxygen likes to hang out in groups of 2 like the O2 we breathe in our atmosphere.  However once we force it into a group of 3, it becomes a powerful oxidizer.  In the presence of a potential microorganism, that Ozone will bind to the contaminant and essentially shred its cell wall at a molecular level.  This sanitizing effect continues for approximately 12-24 hours, the “half-life” of Ozone.  Meaning that the spring water, once in the can, is effectively self-cleaning for the next 24 hours.  Earlier we mentioned that Oxygen does not like to be grouped in threes, two’s a party after all.  Following that 24 hour period, the Ozone will break back down into O2 again- the same stuff you're breathing right now(along with a bunch of nitrogen and a few others).  Once you crack open that icy bottle of RAIN the Ozone is gone.

Unlike some of our bottled water competitors who use flashy marketing words and complex jargon to thinly veil their municipal tap water- RAIN is simply natural.  We publish our water quality report in full and take pride in providing the cleanest, safest, best tasting spring water in the single most recycled packaging.