Face it, we all want healthy kids and as concerned parents we’ll do everything we can to protect their wellbeing. For instance, most of us offer up healthy meals made with tasty organic meats, fruit and vegetables. And many of us provide our little ones with an active lifestyle full of adventurous exploits and fun.
It’s really just about being a good parent, isn’t it?Sure, it is. But Chris Garrick at Jackson Springs Natural Water says when it comes to the one essential fluid our children knock back everyday, parents could be doing a whole lot more for their kid’s health. And, as critical Canadian consumers who spend billions of dollars every year on bottled water, we really need to be aware that not all industry products out there are the same.Garrick, a father of 11-year-old Jackson, has been transporting natural spring water to his 9,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art bottling facility on Keewatin Street for nearly a decade. Every week, tankers bring in 36,000 litres of crystal clear, ice blue water from a company-owned source in the Sandilands Provincial Forrest near Buffalo Point. There, two-and-a-half-hours southeast of Winnipeg, lays the remains of Lake Agassiz, a glacial formation that was once Manitoba, Saskatchewan and part of Ontario.“We believe we have the healthiest water that money can buy,” says Garrick, a former competitive bodybuilder.No doubt.
Jackson Springs natural water represents less than two per cent of the world’s water supply that people can drink right from the source with no form of treatment whatsoever. That’s reassuring, considering our city tap water is being filtered by reverse osmosis or steam distillation to remove harmful chemicals and additives like chlorine, orthophosphate, Guardia and cryptosporidia.
Not so for Jackson Springs natural water. The quenching essential fluid is extremely clean, sodium free, pH-balanced and contains a bevy of healthy, natural minerals that every body, young and old, needs in order to thrive. In fact, the World Health Organization recommends we hydrate ourselves consistently with water that contains a moderate mineral profile or 250 parts per million. Garrick says processed waters have no minerals left in them whatsoever. Jackson Springs natural water has 238 parts per million, which is merely 12 points shy of being, well, the perfect summertime beverage.“Our water has four times more calcium and magnesium than any other bottled water in North America,” says Garrick, adding that the underlying bedrock found in the natural spring determines the level of beneficial minerals in his product. After arriving at the processing plant, the natural spring water is treated with ozone, or electrically charged oxygen, and poured into impeccably clean recycled jugs that have been inspected for imperfections, washed with all-natural organic solutions and sterilized with organic hydrogen peroxide. Now, every parent knows that all this scientific chitchat can be quite daunting when all we really want is for our little ones to drink a healthy measure of water.Fear not.Jackson Springs natural water was awarded a gold medal at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting last year and named the best tasting water in the world.“It all starts with the taste,” says Garrick.
By Leesa Dahl
