Bottles of water are a blur as they move to a laser scriber to be imprinted before packaging in 2013 at the Poland bottling plant.
Poland Spring Water Co. is still looking at where to put its fourth, $50 million bottling plant.
Mark Dubois, a Poland Spring geologist and natural resource manager, said Thursday that despite comments made by a colleague last month, parent company Nestle Waters North America hasn’t decided on a location.
When the No. 1-selling bottled spring water brand in the country announced in February that it needed more space and water to grow, Fryeburg, Rumford and northeast of Bangor were all contenders.
Last month, Thomas Brennan told officials in Lincoln, “For my part as a hydrogeologist, this is where we’re going to do it. That’s going to be my advice to the company,” according to the Bangor Daily News.
“Tom’s working up north, I’m working western Maine and Oxford County,” Dubois said. “He naturally wants to progress with the sites he’s been working on, but I can assure you no decision has been made on site locations.”
He anticipates a decision by the end of this year.
“Water is still the key resource that’s making decisions for us,” Dubois said. “It’s really water availability, permitting timelines, where we can find the most water for future growth.”
In 2016, Poland Spring bottled nearly 902 million gallons of water in Maine. A new bottling plant and two additional nearby springs to feed it could give the company capacity for an additional 400 million gallons.
The new plant is estimated to bring 80 or more jobs, paying an average of $20 an hour once fully built out.
Poland Spring employs 900 people in Maine. In five to 10 years, if growth continues, Dubois said the company may be looking for a location for its fifth bottling plant.
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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