The Michigan Messenger is reporting that Nestle Waters North America is seeking state approval to drill miles of pipe to supply a facility in Evart, Michigan with water that will be sold under the company’s Ice Mountain brand. The website reports that Nestle is wanting to use directional drilling from a well that will be situated at Osceola County’s Spring Hill Bible Camp. According to the report, the pipes would extend for more than three miles and will cross several wetlands and streams. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will be required to determine whether the plan may cause “unacceptable disruption, loss of habitat or loss of the wetland itself.
Additionally, The Traverse City Record-Eagle reported last month that Manistee County officials recently voted to add a resolution to their draft master plan that would ban water withdrawals that “have no direct benefits to residents… and which do not increase public safety, health, or welfare.” According to an editorial in the newspaper, Nestle would have difficulty proving that pumping water in Manistee would be a public benefit.
Finally, Alternet.org has published an interview with author Elizabeth Royte who discusses her new book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It and the nationwide efforts to fight Nestle’s privatization of water.
MediaMouse 