And, it goes on: “the famous Poland Spring in Poland Spring, Maine, which defendant’s labels claim is a source of Poland Spring Water, ran dry nearly 50 years ago.”

According to the Food and Drug Administration, spring water must come from an underground source and flow naturally to the earth’s surface. But spring water doesn’t have to be literally collected at the spring — it can also be pumped out from a hole in the ground. A spokeswoman for Nestlé Waters North America said its water meets all federal and state guidelines for spring water.

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“Poland Spring is 100 percent spring water,” the spokeswoman said in an email. “The claims made in the lawsuit are without merit and an obvious attempt to manipulate the legal system for personal gain.”

The lawsuit, which comes as Nestle expands its operations in Maine, is the latest in a string of legal actions against bottled water companies. In 2003, Nestle agreed to pay $10 million to charity to settle a similar class-action lawsuit that alleged it falsely advertised Poland Spring water. But the company maintained that it had not been deceptive in its practices, and it did not change the way it sources its water.

“Most of Nestle’s waters are pumped from the ground, but the bigger issue that the regulatory definition of what really counts as spring water is really weak,” said Peter Gleick, a scientist and president emeritus of the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit policy research center in Oakland, Calif. “No one is really looking over the shoulders of the bottled water companies.”

Bottled water sales have soared to record highs in recent years as Americans cut back on sugary drinks. Annual sales of bottled water grew 10 percent last year to $16 billion, surpassing sales of carbonated sodas for the first time, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, a New York-based research and consulting firm.

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Nestle has expanded its water business. The company, which recently moved its U.S. headquarters to Arlington, Va., oversees a dozen brands of still and sparkling water, including Deer Park, Acqua Panna, Perrier and San Pelligrino.

Poland Spring, its website says, comes from “some pretty incredible springs — eight of them to be exact.” The site includes a map of the appropriately named sites, including Cold Spring, Clear Spring and Evergreen Spring. “We carefully select each spring source in Maine based on such things as geologic formation, mineral composition, quality and taste,” it says.

The lawsuit, however, alleges that there is not “any historical evidence for six of [Nestle’s] alleged springs, and two are former springs that no longer exist.”

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Instead, it says, “the labels depict pristine scenes of water flowing down a verdant hillside or a forest pond when, in fact, the vast bulk of the water is drawn from wells in low-lying populated areas near potential sources of contamination.”

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Nestle’s six groundwater collection sites in Maine, it goes on, “are near a present or former human waste dump, landfill, fish hatchery or toxic petroleum dump site.”

The class-action lawsuit has 11 plaintiffs and is led by Vermont resident Mark J. Patane, who says he has spent hundreds of dollars buying Poland Spring water since 2003.

“Had he known that Poland Spring Water was ordinary groundwater,” the complaint says, “he would have consumed lower cost bottled water products or filtered tap water.”