Bottled Water

The JANO spring was discovered around 1988 by Gilbert Légère, who was landowner where the spring is located. Less than a decade later, Lorenzo Morais from Caraquet became the landowner. Mr Morais was a businessman and a politician, and like many, he foresaw that water would be an extremely important resource in the 21st century, as petroleum had been in the 20th century.

Along with members of his family, Lorenzo Morais planned and then built a major bottling plant in Village Blanchard, in northern New Brunswick, approximately one kilometre from the spring’s location. At the time, the bottling plant was one of only a few such plants in the Atlantic Provinces.

During the first few years, bottling was mainly done in the 18.9 litre format, and sales were made throughout the northern part of the province, with a network of private distributors. The plant was certified to the highest standards of the industry at the time.

Since 2008 the business has been owned by Bruno St-Onge, a businessman from Trois-Rivières in Quebec. Since acquiring the business, Mr St-Onge has expanded the company – now named 83 PPM Natural Spring Water Inc – to offer its bottled products to most regions of the province.

In addition to the traditional 18.9L format, the company’s products now include these popular formats: 11.3L, 4L, 1.5L, 1L and 500mL. In addition, following the acquisition of a competitor, 83 PPM Natural Spring Water now offers distilled water in various formats, such as 18.9L, 11.3L and 4L.

There is also another company which is now part of the 83 PPM Group: Distribution 83 Inc. They distribute bottled water across most regions of New Brunswick in various formats, as well as coffee and tea products and bottled water-related products, such as water coolers and drinking cups.

The two companies are run from Village Blanchard, and provide work to 25 employees all year round.