As a young boy, Neville
Rennie and his friends
made excursions through
the dense, thick forest to
reach the spring at Roll
River Mountain, where
they took turns at drinking
the refreshing water,
which according to Neville
tasted like soda.
Twenty years ago an
opportunity presented
itself and Neville purchased
fifty acres of land
in the area that included
the notorious Roll River
Mountain Spring and set
out to do what he had
always wanted to do; bottle
the spring water for
sale to the local market.
In the year 2003, Neville
formed Roll River Mountain
Mineral Water Company
Limited and began
bottling water in an area
known as Claboné, named
after a farmer who once
cultivated the land.
Since then Claboné Mineral
Water has been visible
on shelves and in coolers
around the island and
for many it is a real thirst
quencher.
At the invitation of Mr.
Neville Rennie the Barnacle
made a visit to the
Company’s operations and
after about an hour of navigating the narrow, winding
sometimes unpaved,
almost impassable terrain
we found ourselves in the
heart of Claboné on the
border with St. John.
Twenty minutes into our
arrival a short sharp
shower fell which lasted
for about five minutes and
no sooner than it was over the entire mountain range
was covered with mist.
Reminding us that we
were alone with nature
and that Claboné water is
pure and unpolluted; a
reflection of the best
nature has to offer.
Most Grenadian will not
go to Claboné if their life
depended on it, but we
found a group of 12 workers
who make the journey
everyday to ensure that
Grenadians are provided
with the best quality
spring water available on
the island.
Claboné is bottled at the
source of an effervescent
spring created naturally
over time. Mother Nature
has provided the filtering
process through layers of
rocks that bestows upon
Claboné a variety of minerals
for a distinctive taste
and a refreshing source of
vitality.
Water emerging from
underground is entrapped
into two spring boxes, it is
then sterilized before it is released into a large internal
catchment tank where
the process of overnation
and the use of ultra violet
light purifies it before bottling
takes place.
Although bottling the
water is a dream come
through it is only the
beginning of what Rennie
intends to achieve “we
have it on the market, we
are not making money
now because you know
we’ve still trying to establish
the thing and so far I
think we are going steadily
but slowly.”
“Five years from now I
expect that the water will
be well established on the
market and we will be selling
water and realizing
some profits.”
An astute gentleman with
a head for business and a
background in surveying,
Neville has all intentions
of doing well at this new
project. “I am interested in
making a profit of course
because this is a business and I am interested in giving
people employment
and generally speaking to
make a contribution to the
economy of this Country”.
To date the plant produces
more than a 100 cases of
500ml of water daily
which is hauled over dangerous
terrain to be made
available to the consumers.
And for Rennie there is
the down side to his project
“I don’t come up here
everyday because I have
other things to do and the
road is extremely bad as
you see. I spoke to the
Government several times
including the Minister of
Agriculture Hon. Gregory
Bowen but so far they
have not done anything to
improve the road.
An optimistic man with
big ambitions, Rennie is
confident that the project
will succeed and has
enlisted members of his
family who would be
charged with the responsibility
for ensuring its success.
“I know that it will succeed.
I know that eventually
everything will
improve and whether I’m
here or not my children
will be able to carry on and
see that it succeeds
because some of my children
are already members
of the Company.”
From all indications
Claboné spring water is
poised to leave its mark on
the economy, the minds,
and taste buds of our people.
It is a project that
needs all the support it
can get.
