Blue Spring Living Water is Alabama’s only natural spring water

If you didn’t know it already, Bham Now is a big fan of all things LOCAL to our area. In our quest for local products we discovered Blue Spring Living Water, Alabama’s only natural spring water bottled at the source from a centuries-old natural spring on farmland in Blountsville – just 50 miles north of Birmingham. Who knew? Find out more about this local natural spring water.

The Great Blue Spring of Blount County

If you’ve ever driven on Highway 231 through Blountsville (Blount County), you may have noticed a barn-like building on pasture land with a Blue Spring logo. Did you know it actually contains “The Great Blue Spring of Blount County” which provides the natural water source for Blue Spring Living Water?

It’s called “The Great Blue Spring of Blount County” due to the perfectly clear water within the natural geyser in Blountsville which is 35 feet deep.

According to Blue Spring Living, local folklore has it that Davy Crockett and President Andrew Jackson thought themselves to have “discovered” the spring while hunting along the Black Warrior Trail in the early 1800s.

You may have seen Blue Spring Living Water at the local grocery store and restaurants. They distribute to over 1000 retail locations all over Alabama.

Before even reaching a bottle, the water actually took 300 years to flow slowly through mineral-enriched limestone rock to the surface, fed from the Bangor Aquifer, which means the water has a perfectly neutral pH balance.

“Proper hydration is so important for stronger immune function and the body’s ability to heal itself,” says Elizabeth Savage, a Certified Nutritional Health Coach with Blue Spring Living Water. “As we go through the aging process, the need to hydrate becomes vitally important to our overall health. The water you drink becomes your body. It’s rare to have access to fresh spring water full of so many things our bodies need. Just like locally-sourced food, having a connection to the water you drink and where it comes from is a real gift.”

The story behind Blue Spring Living

Fields — *The Great Blue Spring of Blount County runs underneath this land in Blount County. Photo via Blue Spring Living Water*

The land “The Great Blue Spring of Blount County” is on was owned from the 1900’s by the VanZandt family, where they’d host baptisms, music festivals, and other gatherings for locals, before it was transferred to Ottis Shedd in the 1950’s.

*Ottis L Shedd, 1921-2018. Photo via Cullman Times Obituaries*

Shedd never turned away someone who wanted a sip or a jug or just to bask at the edge of Alabama’s Great Blue Spring and in 1999 he set up a basic bottling plant so more people could enjoy Alabama’s spring water. He opened the Blue Springs Water Company in 2004.

In 2017, Cameron Cardwell, a 50-year-old Alabamian and motion picture production professional was looking for something different in his life.

Through discussions with friends, Cardwell heard there was a need from Alabama groceries for a local water product. As fate would have it, he also was made aware of a natural spring about 50 miles from Birmingham.

Cardwell researched everything he could about the “The Great Blue Spring of Blount County”. That led him to Mr. Ottis Shedd’s home in 2017.

“It’s hard to explain how it felt when I walked into the enclosure by myself,” says Cardwell. “There is a peace and serenity, something very sacred about this space”.

Cardwell and Ottis (95 years old at the time) had a trusting connection that led to Mr. Shedd passing the rights of the Great Blue Spring to Cardwell to use his leadership to continue sharing the water with the rest of the state.

On June 1, 2017, Cardwell received the keys to the by then abandoned Blue Spring Living Water building, and to the shed that protects the spring. He began bottling the water later that month.