Steinbach company hoping bagged water the next big thing

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This article was published 05/08/2016 (3656 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STEINBACH – People once thought buying bottled water was a crazy idea and would never catch on.

So, is the market now ready for bagged water?

A company in Steinbach is betting so, and has begun selling bagged water the same way milk was once sold in bags, and still is in some places.

Tres Pure (“very pure”) puts water into 1.3 litre bags. The initial customers are First Nations. There are 126 First Nations across Canada under boil water advisories, not including British Columbia.

“I think bagged water is the future way to go. I don’t think it will totally replace bottled water but it’s more convenient and cost effective,” said Rene Lamoureux, the brainchild behind Tres Pure.

For starters, bagged water is cheaper than in jugs.

“You can buy a gallon of jugged water for $2.49 to $3.29 right now. We can sell you a gallon directly for $1.50 to $1.60,” said Lamoureux. A box of water is three bags, or 3.9 litres, for about $5.

As well, bags use about 50 per cent less plastic than bottled water, and are recyclable. The company uses spouts, like those on boxed wines, to puncture the bags and they are self-healing. Not a drop spilled when Lamoureux punctured a bag of water to demonstrate.

Ultimately, Lamoureux wants to sell the water purification and bagging systems, which fit inside a railway container car, to First Nations. Water from rivers, lakes or wells can be put through the fully automated system and come out the end in packaged bags.

The advantages are manifold. The cost is under $500,000 versus millions the federal government would have to spend per water treatment plant centre.

But perhaps the biggest advantage is distribution. Growing up in a Metis family in Pine Falls, Lamoureux knows the First Nation water situation. The problem in most First Nations is that housing is spaced too far apart to make piped water affordable. So many First Nations have a tanker truck go from home to home filling people’s various containers, including jugs, cisterns and pails.

That risks contamination. A fully-automated facility that produces bagged water guarantees sanitary distribution.

“We can produce bags with up to 10 litres of water,” Lamoureux said. Its treatment and bagging facility is the only one of its kind in Canada approved by the Canadian Standards Association, company officials say.

While the company is in its very early stages, these are not amateurs. Lamoureux, 64, is dubbed the “grandfather” of the water business in Manitoba.

In 1986, he teamed with Imre Lugzo of Middlebro, and Eugene Kostuchuk of Flin Flon, to form Manitoba’s first bottled water company. Lugzo had just won a Lotto 649, and Kostuchuk was selling his company, Arctic Beverages.

The three partners started Canadian Gold Beverages. They company changed hands in 2010.

The catalyst to Canadian Gold was Lugzo’s knowledge that southeast Manitoba had some of the best spring water in the world from an aquifer that enters the province via Warren, Minnesota. Canadian Gold has won numerous international awards for its high quality water.

“People say water is water. It isn’t. Water in southeast Manitoba is like velvet on the tongue,” said Lamoureux.

Asked why he wanted to get back into the water business at age 64, Lamoureaux replied “because I’m an entrepreneur.”

“Water’s in my blood. I’ve been in the water business since 1986. Water is life. It’s a commodity that will be much traded in the future,” he said.

The retail market is part of the company’s plan, too, said Tres Pure president Eva Luk. The company has also developed an adapter to allow office water coolers to be use its five-gallon bags of water.

“We have some of the best-tasting water in the world in Manitoba, and that is one of the best-kept secrets,” said Luk.

Tres Pure’s first sale is about 10,000 bags of water to a first nation. A non-disclosure agreement prevents the company from naming the community.

Tres Pure has also sent bagged water to Shoal Lake and Grassy Narrows first nations in Northwestern Ontario as a goodwill gesture, said Luk. Both are under boil water advisories.

Tres Pure has three staff.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca