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Finnish bottled water quenches a thirst in Saudi-Arabia
and in Russia. Oy Nord Water Ltd bottles, markets and sells
the world's best drinking water.
The export of bottled water began some four years ago when
the company received an enquiry about delivering large amounts
of water by tanker to the United Arab Emirates. "The
matter was researched vigorously, but no cost-effective solution
for the transportation of 450,000 cubic metres of water a
day was found. Then came the idea of selling bottled water,"
says Ismo Räty, the marketing director.
The bottled water of Nord Water, which is owned by Helsinki
Water and the City of Helsinki, comes from unspoilt natural
surroundings, i.e. Lake Päijänne, the second-biggest
lake in Finland. The initial source of the water is located
in a place where the last Ice Age formed numerous pools of
fresh water.
The lake water, already fit to drink, is piped along the
longest continuous rock tunnel in the world, 120 kilometres,
to a water treatment plant in Helsinki. From there the water
goes through a delicate treatment process before its journey
out into the world.
Thirsty markets
Bottled water has been well received by the world. "Finland
is thought of as a country with clean natural surroundings.
Our product has been praised for its taste, freshness and
composition," Räty says.
Nord Water's most important export countries are the Baltic
states, Saudi Arabia and Russia. In 2003 the company sold
a total of about 80,000,000,000 litres of drinking water,
which means 12 litres of clean drinking water for every inhabitant
of the world.
The world's bottled water trade is in the region of 35 billion
dollars. "We've penetrated the market and our positions
are being strengthened with hard work. We believe that in
spite of the hard competition, Nord has great prospects worldwide,"
Räty says.
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World's best water
A UN report on the world's water situation says that
the best water in the world is to be found in Finland.
A report published at the Third World Water Forum in
Kyoto listed 122 countries in order from the best to
the worst in terms of the quality of their water. After
Finland came Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain and
Japan.
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www.nordwater.fi
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