PORTLAND – Although not intended for that purpose, a new television ad campaign by Poland Spring Water addresses issues raised in lawsuits that say its water falls short of the company’s claims.

The ads, which began airing in the brand’s primary markets in the Northeast last month, feature aerial shots of sparkling pools of water, surrounded by deep green trees, to show “what it means to be from Maine.”

Poland Spring, a Nestle subsidiary that sells more than $600 million worth of Maine water every year, is the target of nearly a dozen class-action lawsuits alleging that its water is not naturally pure, is not from protected sources, is not from deep in the Maine woods and is not even from a spring.

With image ads and reams of information on its corporate Web site, Poland Spring is aggressively responding to the challenge so that it can maintain its position as the country’s top-selling spring water. The future of the company, which has more than 600 employees in Maine, may depend on how well that effort succeeds.

The lawsuits contend that Poland Spring’s water is not natural spring water because it’s drawn from wells. Poland Spring says federal rules allow a water bottler to call its product “spring water” if it is drawn from the same source as a natural spring and if it meets certain requirements for its chemical composition.

Most of the lawsuits also dispute Poland Spring’s marketing efforts, including those that say the water is “naturally purified” and drawn from “deep in the woods of Maine” from “pristine and protected sources.”

The company has proposed a settlement to one of the lawsuits that would include more than $8 million in discounts over five years. A judge in Illinois will review the proposal next month.

Poland Spring’s ad campaign features Thomas Brennan, its natural-resources manager, surveying the four Maine springs that the company taps for its bottled water and saying how pristine and protected they are.

Jane Lazgin, a spokeswoman for Nestle Waters, which owns Poland Spring, said the ad campaign was developed in the spring, before the lawsuits were filed.

“These ads show you exactly where these springs are, so it very much addresses the issues raised in the lawsuits, although it was not designed in response,” Lazgin said.