Fda Rules Put Squeeze On Alaska-Water Bottler

JUNEAU - A Kent company says when it sells bottled Alaska water in the United States and overseas, it is selling the image and mystique of a land of glaciers.

The federal Food and Drug Administration, however, says the company is selling ordinary tap water drawn from the city of Sitka's water utility.

Under new bottling rules, the company, Alaska Premium Beverage and Bottling Inc., will have to stop claiming the bottle holds pure glacier water.

The new rules become effective in May, and they also require companies to disclose the source of water on the label.

People associate glaciers and snow with Alaska, said company president James Wang.

"If we have to put in that it's just regular municipal supply water - regular drinking water - then we lose the entire niche already," Wang said.

The Alaska Premium product, "Alasika," has a label that says it "is the most pure and natural glacier drinking water in the whole world."

Wang said he has made up new labels that do not contain the word "glacier," but he expects it will hurt his water sales.

Alaska Premium ships water from Sitka using giant bladders fitted inside container vans. The water is bottled in Kent and then marketed as far away as Taiwan and Brazil, Wang said.

Wang's company is not the only water bottler affected by the new federal rules, said Gary Prokosh, Alaska's water resource chief. Some other bottlers rely on municipal systems for their supply in

Alaska.

While federal rules define several descriptive terms bottlers might use with their product - artesian water, ground water, mineral water, and purified water, it does not define glacier water, said Sue Hutchcroft, with the FDA in Seattle.

In a letter to Wang, the FDA said his labels using the terms "Alaska Premium Glacier Drinking Water" and "Pure glacier water from the last unpolluted frontier" were false and misleading because Sitka's water is not completely glacier fed.

Wang said the federal agency is being unrealistic about what makes up glacier water.

"According to an FDA officer, in order to call it glacier water, we have to go out there chip off one big piece of glacier and let it melt without contamination by snow or rain," Wang said.

That kind of cold federal approach could cost Alaska water some of its uniqueness on the grocery shelf, said Prokosh.

Wang and Prokosh say Sitka's water comes from Blue Lake, which is fed by snowmelt, glaciers and rainwater. That makes it different from just any municipal water source.

"Although its not purely glacier water, there is a glacier influence on Blue Lake," Prokosh said. "The selling point is mystique . . . his marketing simply loses something in the translation."

Mark Buggins, Sitka's environmental superintendent, said the city does not filter the Blue Lake water. It does adds chlorine and fluoride to the mix before it goes out to consumers.

"For natural water, it's very clean. It's very soft, it's very pure," Buggins said. "Blue Lake is a wonderful watershed."

Alaska is trying to come up with its own definition of glacier water, said Nancy Napolilli, a state environmental-health specialist in Fairbanks. The state plans to hold public hearings this month on its water regulations, which will apply to water sold within the state.

"We do have a statutory requirement that there be truth in labeling," Napolilli said. "We define glacier water as direct runoff from a glacier."

Wang said the state definition is not going to help.

"With that definition, it's going to kill the whole deal," he said. "You cannot define glacier water as strictly glacier melt without touching the rain and snow."