Dear Editor: June 13, 2006
Your article ("Bottlers, States and the Public Slug It Out in Water War" June 12, 2006) would have benefited from contacting the leadership of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation(http://www.saveMIwater.org) to find out that two Michigan courts upheld the hydrogeological finding of environmental impairment to one stream, two lakes, and three wetlands in the Nestle Ice Mountain spring water mining operation in Mecosta, Michigan.
I call it the "fallacy of the aggregate" when officials and water privatizers contend that bottled water is just a minute percentage of water use, making no distinction between water takings and water usings. Commodifying and privatizing water itself for profit and removing it from its environment is completely different from existing legitimate water users who return to the environment substantial amounts of the water they
use.
The bottled water fad is relatively new and water recharge factors such as preciptiation are unlikely over time to replenish adequately aquifers and protect the immediate local environments. Spring water mining operations provide few jobs, yet they threaten the large tourist/recreation/country living industry. Relying on better regulated tap water is sufficient for human consumption and a lot less costly for the consumer.
Don Roy
Board Member of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation
901 Colburn Ave.
Big Rapids, MI 49307
231 796 1378 (home)
231 591 2764 (office)