Nestlé Pure Life was first launched in 1998 in
Pakistan, and started being sold in Europe in 2000.
Pakistan The first critical report on Nestlé Pure Life's negative impact on environment and the enjoyment of the human right to water in Pakistan was authored by human rights advocate Nils Rosemann and published by Actionaid Pakistan and Swiss Coalition of Development Organisations in 2005. A report in 2006 called for stronger regulation of and adherence by Nestlé Water to existing regulations and to be accountable to its social and environmental commitments. Notwithstanding numerous press statements by Nestlé an audit report ordered by the
Supreme Court of Pakistan found that Nestlé Water extracts water without any costs, and the Supreme Court "termed the margins of distributors and retailers ‘very high’ and ‘unjustified’ as compared to the private company’s profit".
North America Nestlé Pure Life began being sold in the North America in 2002 when Aberfoyle Springs branded water, which brand and facilities Nestlé bought in 2000, was rebranded as Nestlé Pure Life Aberfoyle and later Nestlé Pure Life Natural Spring Water. Aberfoyle Springs was first established in 1993. Nestlé also began to bottle Montclair branded water at the facilities. As of mid 2020, the water extracted by Nestlé Canada was from a source in
Aberfoyle, Ontario, a well in
Erin, Ontario and another in
Hope, British Columbia. The company also owned a well in
Elora, Ontario which had yet to be tapped. On 3 July 2020, Nestlé Canada announced that it had agreed to sell its water bottling business to
Ice River Springs, of
Shelburne, Ontario. The latter would acquire the source and bottling operations in
Aberfoyle, Ontario and in
Hope, British Columbia, and a well in
Erin, Ontario. The announcement came after the
Government of Ontario announced plans that would allow
municipalities greater power to veto new bottling plants and to set new restrictions on removing groundwater. Nestlé, however, stated that its plans to sell the water bottling business was already in the planning stages in 2019. Ice River was expected to take over the Pure Life brand and the ReadyRefresh delivery service. The deal was awaiting regulator approval which was not achieved in a timely manner leading Nestlé to cancel the deal in early September 2020. On 16 February 2021, Nestlé announced that it had agreed to sell most of its water brands in North America to One Rock Capital Partners and Metropoulos & Co, creating
BlueTriton Brands. The sale, which concluded in early April, included the spring water and mountain brands, including the North America assets of Pure Life, the purified water brand and the delivery service. The deal did not include the Perrier, S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna brands. == Production and distribution ==