SIMULATING THE USE OF PRODUCTION WELLS TO CAPTURE SPRING WATER

The Food and Drug Administration regulates the collection of spring water for bottling. These regulations allow the collection of spring water with a pumping well, a collection method used in Maine by some bottling facilities. To evaluate the sources of water captured by production wells installed in a sand and gravel aquifer at a Maine bottling facility, a conceptualized three-dimensional computer model of the production area was constructed using MODFLOW. The relative contribution of source areas for production wells were identified using backwards particle tracking. This model indicates that about 25% of the 'spring water' pumped from individual production wells at this facility comes from surface-water infiltration induced by pumping. Water collected at these production wells is likely a mixture of surface water and ground water. Additional regulatory guidance for spring-water production, based on sound hydrogeologic principles, is needed to clarify whether this water meets the standard for spring water.