Who this page is for
You're launching a spring water brand, building a private-label water program for retail, sourcing capacity for an existing brand, or you need a Mexican production base that can ship water under USMCA into the US. You've decided PET is the right format. This page tells you, in one read, whether BEV fits and how to start.
If you're looking for alkaline water or sugar-free flavored water specifically, the same line runs both — keep reading; the same MOQs and lead times apply.
What "bottled at source" actually means
Most water co-packers receive their water by tanker — bottled wells trucked from a separate site, then filled into PET at the production plant. Every transfer adds risk: tanker contamination, oxidation, microbial growth.
Our line is different. The spring sits on land BEV operates. Water moves through dedicated stainless steel piping from the spring catchment directly to the cold-fill bottling line. No tanker, no intermediate storage tank exposed to atmospheric oxygen, no transfer between vendors.
That's what "bottle-at-source" means in practice. It's a meaningful capability for any water brand whose marketing touches on freshness, mineral integrity, or origin transparency. It also passes any audit cleanly.
A note on legality: Mexican federal law (CONAGUA) does not allow private parties to "own" water. We operate under a CONAGUA water-use concession — the legal mechanism Mexican bottlers use. The spring sits on our property; the right to draw and bottle the water sits in the concession. That's the correct way to talk about a Mexican bottle-at-source operation.
What we bottle in PET
Three categories run on the PET line. All cold-fill:
- Spring water. Mineral-balanced as it comes from the spring, pH typically 7.2–7.6, lightly mineralized profile. Bottled with no additions — the source's natural composition is the product.
- Alkaline water. Higher pH (typically 8.5–9.5), sourced from naturally alkaline strata or pH-adjusted via electrolysis. Premium positioning, growing category. Read the alkaline-water deep-dive →
- Sugar-free flavored water. Functional waters — added natural flavors, electrolytes, vitamins, sometimes caffeine. Sweetened with stevia, monk fruit, sucralose, or unsweetened.
What we don't bottle in PET: juice, dairy, sparkling water (PET cold-fill doesn't carbonate), HPP juice, hot-fill teas, aseptic-filled beverages of any kind. If your product needs any of those, we're not the right co-packer.
Six bottle sizes
| Size | Format | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 500 ml | 17 oz | Single-serve retail, gas station, vending |
| 750 ml | 25 oz | Sport-cap fitness positioning, premium small-format |
| 950 ml | 32 oz | "Big bottle" hydration positioning |
| 1 L | 34 oz | Family / on-the-go format |
| 1.5 L | 51 oz | Multi-serve, table format |
| 2 L | 68 oz | Family multi-serve, value-pack driver |
Decoration options: shrink sleeves (most common for water — full-body design at retail-ready cost), pressure-sensitive labels (premium positioning), or print-direct-on-bottle for the highest-end SKUs.
Capacity and lead time
- PET line speed: 9,000 bottles per hour cold-fill on European-grade equipment, the same OEM tier US bottlers run.
- Annual capacity: 40 million liters per year.
- All six sizes run on the same line — quick changeovers between formats.
- Standard lead time: ~6 weeks from approved spec and materials to first pallets in your warehouse. Repeat runs after the first move faster — 3–4 weeks once formula and materials are in standing supply.
For a launching water brand, 100,000 bottles is your first run. For an established water brand on a quarterly cadence, multi-million-bottle quarterly volumes fit cleanly in the schedule.
MOQ — what's the smallest first run?
Minimum order: 100,000 PET bottles per SKU. That's roughly one production run on our line.
For a private-label water program with a regional retailer, 100,000 bottles is a sensible first-run quantity — it covers 4–8 weeks of single-store inventory at a busy location, or a multi-store launch at lighter velocity. We can't go below this MOQ — it's the production-run economics of a Tier-1 PET line, not a policy choice.
Quality and regulatory
SQF Edition 9 certified
Cert 25-7302, audited annually by Mérieux NutriSciences. Scope covers Cat. 16 — Beverage Processing, including water bottling.
For private-label water programs at major retailers (Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart, OXXO, La Comer), SQF Ed.9 is the food-safety baseline they audit against. We have it.
Anton Paar QC for water
On-site Anton Paar lab, every batch:
- Microbiological screening (heterotrophic plate count, total coliforms, E. coli) — the core water-safety panel.
- Mineral content verification (TDS, conductivity, calcium, magnesium, sodium).
- pH and alkalinity (critical for both spring and alkaline-water positioning).
- Turbidity and clarity (visual quality control).
- Bottle-integrity check on every shift — leak detection, cap torque verification.
No batch ships without an analyst-signed COA documenting all of the above.
In-line monitoring: continuous turbidity, conductivity, and temperature sensors on the line.
Regulatory paperwork
COFEPRIS (Mexican federal health regulator) — sanitary registration, source-water analytical reports, CONAGUA water-use concession documentation.
FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) — standard of identity for "spring water" under 21 CFR 165, source-water sampling reports, import paperwork.
EU and other LATAM — handled with the regulatory paperwork built into the engagement.
A note on US "spring water" labeling: under FDA rules, the water must come from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface, and it must be collected at the spring or through a borehole tapping the same underground formation. Our source qualifies. We provide the documentation US importers need to substantiate the spring-water claim.
How we engage on water projects — four tiers
| Tier | What we cover | Best for water projects |
|---|---|---|
| Full Project | Development → Design → Legal → Sourcing → Manufacture → Logistics | Founders launching a private-label water brand, retailers building a house brand |
| Full Tolling | Sourcing → Manufacture | Brands with brand identity but no Mexico supply chain |
| Hybrid | Sourcing → Manufacture → Logistics | US brands nearshoring water production with cross-border distribution |
| Soft Tolling | Manufacture only | Established water CPG bringing own materials |
For private-label water programs (a regional retailer launching a house brand of bottled water), Full Project is most common — design, legal review of source-water claims, materials sourcing, manufacture, and logistics all need to come together.
Why nearshore water bottling to Mexico
Four reasons US water brands look south:
- Tier-1 PET equipment at Latin American operating cost. Our PET line is European-grade, the same OEM tier US bottlers run. Operating costs in Mexico are different — the math works.
- USMCA tariff treatment for finished water. Cross-border movement of finished bottled water from Mexico to the US is fast and predictable.
- A real spring. Most US water co-packers fill municipal-source water and label it "purified" or "drinking water." If your brand wants the spring designation, you need a real spring source — and Mexico has more accessible, audit-ready spring infrastructure than people assume.
- Same time zone, bilingual operations. Estado de México plant runs on US Central Time. Quote, contract, technical specs, COAs all available in English or Spanish.
For Mexican brands, BEV is the domestic option that doesn't make you compromise on certification or source-water credibility.
Frequently asked questions
What's the smallest first run for a new water SKU?
100,000 PET bottles per SKU. It's the production-run economics of the PET line. For a private-label water program, that's a sensible launch quantity covering 4–8 weeks of inventory at a single high-velocity store, or a lighter-velocity multi-store launch.
Can you bottle multiple SKU sizes from a single formula?
Yes — and most water programs do exactly that. One formula (your spring water specification) bottled across 500 ml, 1 L, and 1.5 L is one of the most common configurations we run. Each size is a separate SKU at MOQ 100,000 bottles, but the formula development and source-water work is shared.
Can BEV provide source-water analysis for FDA spring-water labeling?
Yes. We can provide the full source-water analytical package — mineral profile, microbiological panel, isotope analysis if requested — that FDA importers and US retailers need to substantiate spring-water labeling claims. Full documentation routine to the engagement.
Does BEV bottle alkaline water on the same line?
Yes. Alkaline water is one of our three PET categories. Same MOQ, same lead time, same QC stack. The pH-adjustment process happens in-line before fill. We can target a specific pH (e.g., 8.5, 9.0, 9.5) within the range our equipment supports.
Can we use our own bottles or labels?
Yes — that's Soft Tolling. You ship your bottles, preforms, or label rolls to us; we run the line and ship finished pallets. For Full Project / Full Tolling / Hybrid, we source bottles and labels through our supplier network.
Do you ship internationally?
Yes — primarily to the US under USMCA. EU and other LATAM markets handled with regulatory paperwork built into the engagement. Bottled water is a low-margin, high-weight product, so most water programs target regional distribution within USMCA rather than transatlantic shipping.
Can BEV produce sparkling water in PET?
No — our PET line is cold-fill only, which can't run carbonated SKUs. Sparkling water in cans, yes; sparkling in PET, no. If your product is sparkling water, see our cans page.
Where is BEV's plant?
Tlazala #73, Col. San Miguel Tecpan, Jilotzingo, Estado de México 54571. Northwest of Mexico City, in the highland industrial corridor — the same property the spring sits on.
The fastest way to know whether BEV is the right co-packer for your water brand is to talk to our AI strategist. Two minutes of conversation produces a real project brief — bottle size, MOQ, lead time, recommended engagement tier, and a quote band. Or read a related guide: Beverage co-packing in cans.