THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508160160
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NOREEN FARRELL NICHOLAS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Salty tap water and temperatures in the 90s have made it difficult for local suppliers of bottled water to keep up with the increased demand for their product.
``Everybody is so overwhelmed,'' said Ann Marie Lemaire, customer service representative for Miller's Spring Water in Chesapeake. ``Our business has tripled, and while we're keeping up to the best of our ability, we cannot service customers fast enough,'' she said.
Chloride and sodium levels in the city's Northwest River water supply have soared since July, reaching more than 15 times what doctors recommend for patients on salt-restricted diets. About 71,000 Chesapeake residents, including all in Greenbrier and Great Bridge, are getting the affected water and another 10 percent of city residents receive a mixture of that water and unsalty reserves.
Miller's, Hampton Roads' only bottler of spring and distilled water, has 17 full-time employees and has hired three temporary workers to handle the extra calls.
On hectic days, callers were asked to leave messages on Miller's voice mail, but the automated answering service was logging 20 to 30 calls an hour.
``I'm still calling customers back,'' Lemaire said.
Although the business isn't normally open on Saturdays, the last few weeks Miller's office staff and some of its drivers have worked the extra day in an effort to keep up with the demand.
``We're about one behind on our deliveries,'' Lemaire said.
Miller's president, Herb Rockefeller, said his sales managers and route supervisors are riding on trucks and working Saturdays to help with deliveries.
``I've had my son come in, I've run water, and one distributor came from North Carolina and spent four days with us to help out,'' Rockefeller said.
Many of the drivers are working until 8 or 9 p.m. during the week, he said.
Typically, Lemaire said, drivers deliver about 1,500 five-gallon jugs a week, but last week one Chesapeake driver delivered 426 bottles in one day.
``I'm setting up an average of 10 new accounts a day in Chesapeake,'' she said.
Bill Trower, president of 1st Choice Water Co., said he recently opened his Western Branch Boulevard store on a Sunday for the first time in two years so that customers could obtain water.
Trower's commercial distiller processes 20 gallons of water an hour. But he said he would need a machine that produces 60 gallons of water an hour to keep up with the present demand.
Herbert Smith, president of Water & Health, said he closes his Chesapeake and Virginia Beach shops for five to six hours a day so his distillers can catch up. He then extends his business hours for customers to purchase water.
Because of the sudden influx of orders some suppliers have run out of items they usually stock and are forced to order additional inventory.
``We normally get in about 54 water coolers a week,'' Rockefeller. ``But we were running short and received 128 more last week.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Herb Rockefeller of Miller's Spring Water says business is booming.
by CNB