Barlow and members of the Centre Wellington chapter
The Council of Canadians Centre Wellington chapter is calling on the Township of Centre Wellington to pass a resolution expressing its opposition to Nestle’s application to test water at the Middlebrook Well.
The Facebook promotion for tonight’s effort highlights, “Show your support for SaveOurWater.ca and its delegation to township council to ask for a resolution regarding its position on the Permit To Take Water at the Middlebrook Well near Elora.”
In her new book Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada’s Water Crisis, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow writes, “Nestle is currently seeking approval to take over another well at Middlebrook, near Elora, and extract 1.6 million litres of groundwater a day to be trucked to its plant, a move fiercely opposed by local residents and a new group called Save Our Water that formed to fight the company.”
The call for a resolution in Centre Wellington had been in the works for months prior to the motion being heard by Guelph City Council this evening. That motion calls on the City of Guelph to send a letter to the province expressing council’s “concern that the permit to take water is not in the best interest of the City of Guelph and the watershed shared by the City of Guelph”.
The provincial comment period on Nestle’s application ended on November 15, 2015, but the government has yet to make a decision on it.
The Centre Wellington chapter was formed in June 2015. Along with Save Our Water and other allies, they have expressed concern that Nestle’s proposed water-taking operations could deplete the drinking water supply for the growing population in the area and that wells in the vicinity could be contaminated.
In May, the Centre Wellington chapter participated in a 12-kilometre march from Guelph City Hall to the Nestle bottled water facility in Aberfoyle to oppose Nestle water takings. They also hosted a public forum with Barlow in October 2015 that drew 300 people to hear about the Middlebrook issue. They also helped organize another public forum on the issue in this past February that featured Barlow, chapter activist Diane Ballantyne, Mike Nagy from Wellington Water Watchers, and a representative from SaveOurWater.ca.
The Council of Canadians has just launched a boycott campaign to stop Nestle profiting from water.
