Coming to a store shelf near you: Louisville tap water?

John Aguilar, Daily Camera

Published October 16, 2007 at midnight

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What is Louisville putting in its water?

Apparently, not much — at least in the way of bacteria, viruses and other contaminants.

For Eldorado Artesian Springs Inc., known for a quarter-century for its pure, spring-fed artesian well water, Louisville's water supply is so clean that the company is asking if it can bottle and sell it.

The company has a 38,000-square-foot bottling plant in Louisville.

"They've expressed an interest in having access to the city's tap water," said Malcolm Fleming, Louisville's city manager. "We think it's one more indication of the quality of life in Louisville, particularly the quality of our water."

The Louisville City Council is scheduled to take up a proposed water-use agreement between the city and Eldorado Artesian Springs at a meeting today.

The arrangement would allow the company, which sells its water under the Eldorado Natural Spring Water label, to bottle up to 75 acre-feet of Louisville's municipal tap water annually over the next five years.

Less clear than what comes out of Louisville's faucets is the question of how Eldorado Artesian Springs plans to market the city's tap water — whether it plans to pour the stuff into its own branded bottles, start a new product line or bottle the water for a third party.

City officials deferred that question to Eldorado Artesian Springs. Multiple messages left with the company went unanswered, and calls to the homes of several members of its management team weren't returned Monday.

If Eldorado Artesian Springs plans to bottle the water to sell under its own brand, it will be following in the footsteps of many other beverage companies that have decided to use tap water as the main ingredient in their bottled water, including PepsiCo's Aquafina brand.

Eldorado Artesian Springs now gets its water from a series of natural springs that sit at the base of Eldorado Canyon. It transports the water from the canyon in stainless-steel tanker trucks to its plant in Louisville, where the water is passed through a protective filter and bottled.

Fleming said the company first approached Louisville seven years ago, but the city didn't have a dependable-enough water supply at the time to help put the deal in place.

"Since then, we've acquired more water rights and we've developed some excess capacity, and we can have them use the water for a limited time," Fleming said.

He said the company had expressed concern that unless it could get access to the city's tap water, it would have to relocate its operations out of town.

"Our interest is in working with Louisville companies to help keep them in town," Fleming said. "We felt this would be mutually beneficial."

Dan Mathes, Louisville's water resources engineer, said he's not surprised Eldorado Artesian Springs is interested in the city's water, the bulk of which comes straight out of South Boulder Creek just upstream from where the company's springs are located.

"It's first-use water — no one has really touched it or tainted it," Mathes said about the city's water. "It's about as good as it gets."

But he couldn't help chuckling at the thought of someone plunking down $1.50 for a 20-ounce bottle of Louisville tap water.

By contrast, Mathes said the city charges residents $2.68 — for 1,000 gallons.

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