U.S. Water News Online
REDBY, Minn. -- What began as a small venture to bring some jobs to the Red Lake Indian reservation is expanding substantially as interest in a bottled water plant grows.
Red Lake Bottling Inc. won't ship its first bottle of water until the plant opens in mid-March, but tribal business planner Quentin Fairbanks said the potential jobs have already grown from seven to as many as 50.
``We started getting orders from other people who wanted us to bottle their water under their label,'' Fairbanks said, adding that interest was also strong for the plant to manufacture plastic bottles, which it plans now to do. ``This thing has really grown.''
An aquifer that runs under the reservation land, untainted by farm nitrate deposits or iron in the soil, contains water so pure it can go straight from bedrock to bottle, Fairbanks said. He said the water will not even come into contact with air until the consumer opens the cap.
The Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Bemidji agreed to a partnership with Red Lake, and will soon be marketing and distributing its water under the Red Lake Nation and Paul Bunyan brands.
With help from a $1.4 million federal grant, construction on the plant began last year. Fairbanks said the plant should have been up and running by now, but its opening was delayed because interest from around the state expanded the scope of the project.
The tribe will use profits from the business for environmental cleanup on the reservation, as well as constructing sanitation and sewage infrastructure.
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