“The suit states that as Nestle expanded production of Poland Spring water, the company began digging supply wells and using nearby groundwater, much of which had high potential for contamination. One of Poland Spring's sources, Garden Spring, taps into a common aquifer underneath a gravel pit eight miles away from the site of Poland Spring. According to the complaint, the well is not located deep in the woods of Maine as Nestle advertises, but in a parking lot along the side of a road used by hundreds of trucks and cars daily. According to the complaint, hydro-geologists hired by Nestle found that another current source for Poland Spring water near the original site stands over a former trash and refuse dump, and below an illegal disposal site where human sewage was sprayed as fertilizer for many years. The suit argues similar contamination problems were found with other sources of Poland Spring.”

Water & Wastes Digest, “Nestle Sued for Falsely Advertising Poland Spring Water”

While this 2003 lawsuit was settled, the company still continues to use the same sources for bottled water after agreeing to step up quality controls and pay $10 million over the course of five years in discounts to consumers and contributions to charities.

How is this relevant? Well, it’s the brand of choice for Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. who grabbed a huge gulp of Poland Spring while delivering the GOP’s State of the Union response. Considering he said, “When we point out that no matter how many job-killing laws we pass, our government can’t control the weather — [Obama] accuses us of wanting dirty water and dirty air,” I’m assuming he’d like to know what this private sector corporation discovered in their own water. I also thought he’d be interested in the lack of regulation to keep Poland Spring and Nestle from bottling water from above a trash dump and below a field treated with human shit, and selling it as “pristine spring water” that “tastes just like it did when we found it.” Somehow, I doubt that.

tl;dr version: Yeah, there could be poop in that. But it’s okay, because it’s private sector poop!