A warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is causing concern among those consuming water bottled in Monroe County.

The FDA penned the letter to SweetSommer Water Bottling Co., LLC, on Jan. 19 following an inspection of its facilities in Gap Mills in September 2009.

Investigators documented more than seven serious violations of the Processing and Bottling of Bottled Drinking Water regulations. However, Amonda Moon, chief financial officer for SweetSommer Water, says the company has responded to all concerns and each violation has been taken care of in a timely manner.

“The No. 1 thing is that we were non-operational at the time of the investigation,” Moon said Thursday.

“We were getting ready for new equipment, were not bottling water and had not been for a couple of weeks,” she told The Register-Herald Thursday. “We informed the FDA of that, but it was their discretion whether or not to do an inspection.

“I think it’s important to note we received an inspection about a week or two before from the state of West Virginia and received no violations.”

According to the letter from FDA District Director Evelyn Bonnin, SweetSommer failed to sample and analyze source water at least once each week, to establish that its product water supply source was of safe and sanitary quality and to maintain records.

In addition, Bonnin states that the company failed to ensure that its product water supply was from an approved source properly located, protected and operated.

Specifically, the director said, investigators observed dead mice floating in the waters of the spring and live salamanders swimming.

“Terminology in government reports can make something sound so much worse than it actually is,” Moon responded. “We have six springs, but we only use three of them, even though all of them were inspected.

“We’re quite concerned because we represent West Virginia and the water that is bottled is piped straight into our homes,” she continued.

“We drink the same water and give it to our children and grandchildren. We would never put anything into their hands or anyone’s hands that is not 100 percent free of pollution.”

When the water leaves the springs, it goes through ultraviolet purifiers and three different filtrations before it is ozonated, Moon says.

“That would take care of any type of bacteria. Those three things right there are more than what they do to tap water.

“This affects our business and income,” Moon added. “Unfortunately, the FDA doesn’t publish rebuttals to show what we have done to correct any problems they have found, but we have responded.”

She says SweetSommer Water Bottling Co. received its first piece of new equipment Wednesday.

They hope to start bottling again by mid-March.

— E-mail: cclark@register-herald.com