Fears that Tokyo's water supply is radioactively contaminated have prompted a massive Japanese order from a Burnaby, B.C., bottled water company.

The Polaris Water Co. has been contracted to ship 1.4 million 1.5-litre bottles of glacier-sourced water within one month.

That's about ten times more than the company usually produces in that time and Polaris spokesman Chris Dagenais said it's going to take a huge effort to fill the order.

"It's double shifts," Deganais said. "It's all hands on deck and everything we can to source all the material, get all the freight forwarding arranged, and get that product in the hands of people who need it."

'It's been a really sort of an inspiring experience despite the tragedy that's happening.'—Polaris Water Co. spokesman Chris Dagenais

The radioactive isotope iodine 131 has been detected in a number of Tokyo area reservoirs at levels higher than is safe for infants to consume, the government of Japan said Wednesday.

The radioactive particles are coming from the nuclear reactors damaged in the northern Japan earthquake and tsunamis March 11.

The Polaris water order will mean that workers on the bottling line will have to pack about 700 cases into seven cargo containers each day for the next four weeks.

Time and services volunteered

Dagenais said employees and associated companies are getting into the spirit

"Recognizing that this is also a humanitarian effort, employees here have come forward and volunteered their time," he said. "Suppliers have also come to the table."

Polaris spokesman Chris Dagenais says the water order for Japan will require ten times the company's usual one-month output. (CBC) Dagenais said freight forwarders have said they would transport water from the Burnaby plant to shipping ports free of charge.

"It's been a really sort of an inspiring experience despite the tragedy that's happening, that all of British Columbia, everybody involved in the bottled water industry, seems to be uniting on behalf of Japan," he said.

Dagenais would not put a dollar figure on the order, but said the company will make a profit, although the margins are much slimmer than normal.

Polaris will also donate two container loads out of the 100 destined for the earthquake-ravaged region, he said.