Fresh water from the Newlands Spring
Inspired by Raw Model and Daniel Vitalis, I took some pictures of our local spring that we’ve been collecting water from over the last few months. We go about every two weeks, unless we’re making Raw Essene Bread, Muesli, or anything else that we need to soak for, in which case it’s about every week.
April 27th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Hi,
There is not much info on this magic little spring. What is it’s source and how do we know it’s safe for drinking?
Kind regards
Alexa
June 11th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Soaring Free Superfoods had the Newlands Spring water tested in September 2008, and their comment was the water is “Excellent to drink. No contaminants, clean and pure”. The water tastes great, even better than filtered water! I’ve had other friends who grew up in the area comment about how enjoyed the water growing up, so the spring has been around a while
August 4th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
From what I know the mound behind the prefab wall is actually the spring. The land belongs to the SAB and the spring is still one of the main sources of water for the Newlands brewery. When you fill your container glance up through the fence and you’ll see the pipe that feeds water to the brewery. When I find the book in which I read all this I’ll post its name! The run-off where we fill our containers was installed in good gesture for the use of the general public.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
The Newlands spring is abstracted by SAB, and all beer from the newlands brewery is made only from spring water, no municipal water.
The quality is excellent for brewing, it has a pH of 5.6 (same as rain water), low alkalinity, low mineral content, no contaminants. We do not have to treat the water in any way. It is text book quality brewing water, fortunately unpolluted by agriculuture and industry.
We also use a 2nd spring, Kommetjie spring, who’s source is on the vacant piece of land to the east of forries – next to the scout hall. The overflow can be seen flowing to and under the road opposite the BP. Same quality.
As a brewer I only drink the spring water, and the products made from it. Forget about the chemical stories, they are not true.
August 18th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Thanks for the info Tim!
Deon sent me the book info: The book is, Law (B.) PAPENBOOM IN NEWLANDS, cradle of the brewing industry, 92 pp., b/w & colour illus., hardback, Cape Town, 2007. Newlands and the brewery etc. have a wonderful history.
This spring was also mentioned a few months ago on the spill.co.za blog: http://www.spill.co.za/tast-test/taste-test-mineral-water/2088/
August 18th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Newlands spring – a little more on it. (submitted to link above)
The spring is owned by SAB and the Newlands brewery uses only spring water in production of our beers, and have been for well over 100 years. The water is excellent quality and we are able to use it without pre-treatment. It is indeed the reason the brewery exists where it does.
What can be collected at the end of springs way is the overflow from the spring. The berm around the spring can be seen over the vibracrete wall. It was recorded as already built in 1841 and protects the spring from damage.
The spring has a pH of rain water (5.6)a low alkalinity of 20 and low hardness, which would make it the envy of lager style brewers worldwide. It has very low levels of heavy metals (<tap water) and no contaminants. In short it is perfect water, much sought after by members of the public in the know. It has cultural or other significance from members of the Muslim community who collect it.
It is sad and ironic that our beers are rumoured to contain chemicals – nothing could be further from the truth, with the spring making up over 93% of our products.
If anyone is interested I have a short paper on the history and significance of the spring – you can email me on timandsandi@gmail.com
August 18th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Forgot to link to spring’s details on FindaSpring.com: http://www.findaspring.com/newlands-spring-cape-town-south-africa/
October 8th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Hi all, I was browsing on the web and I was really excited when I found there’s spring water near where I live. However I have a question about the pH balance of the water. Isn’t pH level < 7 indicates that it more acidic? And according to the articles I see on the web, they all indicate the ideal pH level of drinking water should be between 6.0-8.5
Furthermore the body functions best with a slightly alkaline ph level, so isn't therefore we should go for somethinig slightly higher than pH 7 instead of lower? Therefore I don't understand why everyone says this spring water with pH5.9 is good for the body.
I was never good with science, so I am trying to understand why everyone says this is a good water to drink
July 14th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
For those interested in the water quality of the spring, Ethical Co-op had some tests done: Newlands Spring test results