Nestle's news release about the Court of Appeals case yesterday contained a misleading statement about its Michigan bottled water operation that was picked up by some in the news media as fact. Nestle says there are about 20 bottled water operations in the state.
According to state records, there are five self-supplied (i.e., not from city water supplies) permitted bottling operations that use more than 100,000 gallons per day at some points in the year. Two are owned by Abso-Pure, one by Shay Water Company, and two by Nestle. Nestle's smallest operation, its plant pumping in Stanwood, is more than four times larger than the next largest, Abso-Pure. And its infamous Sanctuary Springs wells have a permitted capacity about 30 times that of the rivals.
There are a number of very small operations that don't have the capacity to transfer large amounts of Great Lakes water out of the Basin.
But it's true that at some point at least the large non-Nestle plants will have to come under some kind of law that makes it clear water can't be captured from springs or groundwater, bottled and sold like private property.
More on yesterday's Court of Appeals hearing here. The key point:
The judges' queries, fired at lawyers during the hour-long hearing, "zeroed in on the question of who owns the water, and is it allowed to be diverted out of the watershed, or is there a different standard?" said Jim Olson, attorney for the citizens group.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/water15e_20050615.htm
Posted by Dave at June 15, 2005 07:03 AM