Facing a 2 year moratorium on extracting water from the Middlebrook well and ongoing public condemnation over their purchase of the property, bottled water giant Nestlé has suggested that they may want to “share” the artesian well with the community that they outbid during a severe drought this summer.
Nestlé reps went to the Township of Centre Wellington council meeting on Monday night.
From a Canadian Press article:
Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton said he’s not really sure exactly what Nestle has in mind at this point. “They really weren’t asking us for anything except to consider a kind of partnership in the future, and they were fairly vague about what that could mean,” Linton said in an interview.
The Council of Canadians along with almost 10,000 supporters have called for the Ontario government to expropriate the well (which would fairly reimburse Nestle) and give it to Centre Wellington to secure their water supply. The tiny township should not be forced to negotiate with the multi-billion dollar bottled water giant.
The CP article continues: Nestle’s offer to partner with the township was probably an attempt to find some way to move forward on developing the Middlebrook site and partly a public relations move, added Linton. “They’re sitting on this well and can’t really do anything with it,” he said. “They’ve taken quite a hit on this file and I think they wanted a chance to interact directly with council and give us their story.”
Bottled water is a frivolous and wasteful use of our dwindling groundwater reserves. It is entirely consumptive- meaning almost all the water extracted leaves the watershed and does not replenish the aquifer. No “partnership” can change that fundamental fact.
Read more about our expropriation call here.
And you can sign our declaration to boycott bottled water and Nestle products here.
