Muskoka Springs Water owners Terry Galbraith and Michael Billingshurst are on top of the world, quite literally. The water they have been bottling for the past several years has just been judged the best bottled water in North America, and the 2^nd best in the world. The contest, held in Berkley California in February of this year, is a significant industry award.

  Working out of the former Brown’s Beverages building in Gravenhurst, Muskoka Springs Water bottles between 12,000 to 15,000 gallons per day. They purchase their water from Gold Mountain in nearby Barrie, as the artesian well that served Brown’s Beverages couldn’t keep up with the volume. 

The History

Pure spring water has been bottled in Gravenhurst since 1873. That’s when Dugald Brown started bottling pure spring water in hand blown glass bottles packed in wooden crates. Delivered on wooden buckboards pulled by big draft horses, he supplied the growing tourist camps and hotels.

  Muskoka Springs carries on this tradition in Gravenhurst bottling pure spring water with state of the art purification and bottling equipment. Both spring water and reverse osmosis water are bottled using their own labels as well as for many private labels.

The Process

Muskoka Springs Water flows through natural sand and rock formations, which purifies and filters the water to make it chemical free and great tasting. It then goes through several processes. The first step is filtering the water through 1 Micron water polishers that remove any sediment. The next step, called ozonization, is a disinfection process using ozone gas, a form of oxygen, instead of chlorine. Ozone is an effective water disinfectant that does not leave a residual taste, colour or odour to water. One more step of further filtering and then ultra-violet treatment produces a great tasting, bacteria-free product.

In house testing is done at Muskoka Spring Water on a daily basis. Once a week source and product samples are sent to an independent lab in Toronto, and once a year large samples of both product and source for organic and inorganic testing are sent to laboratories in Ohio.

The Product

Muskoka Springs is fast becoming a leader in custom bottling private label spring water, specializing in small quantities for local resorts, restaurants and other businesses, as well as bottling for events and trade shows. And now it has been declared the best bottled water in North America and the 2^nd best in the world.

  More information is at their website at www.muskokaspringwater.com.