A victory! Activists celebrate Nestle's withdrawal from McCloud California project

// added September 13, 2009 // 16 comments //
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JanforGore
San Francisco, Calif.—Food & Water Watch and the McCloud Watershed Council achieved a major victory today when Nestle Waters of North America announced it would withdraw its proposal to build a bottling facility in McCloud, Calif. The news came after 6 years of intense public debate regarding the plant and its potential impact on water resources in the area. At one point the deal would have allowed Nestle to pump up to 200 million gallons of water from nearby Mt. Shasta springs- enough water for 614 typical U.S. families.

This latest development is one is an escalating trend against allowing private corporations to bottle public water. In July, 2009, the grassroots group Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation successfully sued Nestle to limit the amount of water the company could withdraw for one a bottling facility in Mecosta County. Less than a month later, the City of Flagstaff, Ariz. denied Nestle a contract to bottle water from local resources there. Proposed bottling operations in Maine, Oregon, Colorado and Wisconsin are also drawing public scrutiny.

“This decision to withdraw the contract for a new water bottling facility is a major setback for Nestle, which has been eyeing water in McCloud for many years,” said Mark Schlosberg, western states director of Food & Water Watch. “It reflects the strength of community opposition towards Nestle’s plans to take local water and highlights a growing consumer understanding that bottled water is expensive, a waste of natural resources and bad for the environment.”

Declining consumer interest in bottled water is further evidenced by the fact that, for the first time in five years, bottled water sales are on the wane.

“It is important for people to realize that they can make a difference. Nestle’s departure proves that ordinary citizens can successfully protect their community resources and way of life,” said Debra Anderson, president of the McCloud Watershed Council.

Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer organization, works to ensure clean water and safe food in the United States and around the world. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.

For more information, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.
  1. groups:
    News,   Green,   Water Is Life,   Human Rights,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Activism Water is a Human Right Nestle Water Privitization

16 comments // A victory! Activists celebrate Nestle's withdrawal from McCloud California project

  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Well, I did that because I respect him and I truly hope he saw it. I don't even know if he knows all the companies being invested in, but I think anyone who truly supports someone should be willing to point out when they think that person is doing something that is not in theirs, the planet's or others' best interests.

    • 5 months ago
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • Jan,

      Good for you for taking it on and following the truth unabashedly wherever it leads you. To call out someone who has inspired you is not easy. Thank you.

    • 5 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • I've been boycotting them for years as well. And that's one reason why they pulled out of this. Bottled water sales are declining, so we have to keep it up. They have no business stealing our water to put in their plastic bottles. I hope all states are on alert. Once they start pumping they never stop and the environmental degradation it brings is not worth twenty jobs at minimum wage working for a company that would sell toxic baby formula and use slave labor to make their chocolate bars.

      It's time people knew what all of these companies are doing behind the scenes and hold them accountable to the public trust. So on that note, yes, their charters should be taken and their profits as well for betraying the consumers that they lied to about their products and business practices. I think I read that Nestle is even one company being invested in by Al Gore's Generation Investment Management firm, and I am asking him publicly to divest from Nestle if that company is truly looking to invest sustainably. Stealing water is not a sustainable practice! There should be NO ROOM for greenwashers in the environmental movement... ANYWHERE.

    • 5 months ago
  • RaceBannon
    • 0
      RaceBannon  
    • Image...
    • i forgot i just read an article on adbusters raising a question about taking a companies charter when they betray the public trust. Interested? We should do it!

    • 5 months ago
  • quanta
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • I remember boycotting Nestle in the early 80s when their US rejected baby formula was sold in third world countries and led to death. I haven't has a nestle crunch bar in ove 20 years.

    • 5 months ago
  • MilchMann
    • 0
      MilchMann  
    • samthesixth:

      Bingo sam... the SOBs were giving mothers of infants just enough formula to last them till the mothers natural milk production stopped... and then babies starved.

      This company is evil on all fronts and should continue to be boycotted just as Sam... and my self have done.

    • 5 months ago
  • maof4brats
  • Marilynn_Murray
    • 0
      Marilynn_Murray  
    • The Liberals in California aren't stupid. They don't want a job if it costs the environment. There are better cleaner ways to earn a living. Go ahead and contact them about moving into your state.

    • 5 months ago
  • clownpuncher
  • Marilynn_Murray
  • thedirtman
    • 0
      thedirtman  
    • As a resident of Coconino County local to the city of Flagstaff, Arizona, I applaud the city for having the ethical sense to deny water sales to Nestle when many people in the county still do not have access to running water. Those people include both large numbers of new County residents and Native American residents who have had their water taken from them.

      Northern Arizona has never had the benefit of a water project that would meet the needs of the population. Management for federal money of water projects has consistently favored California, and while Arizona does not use its portion of allocated water from the Colorado River, the state has had to pay for water projects (that serve only Phoenix and Tucson in the southern part of the state) on its own since the first Roosevelt administration.

    • 5 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • But hey, you really want to work for them they have set Oregon up as their next prey. I am embarrassed for the mentality of some people in this country.

    • 5 months ago
  • bill1think2012
  • JanforGore
  • s0uthc0ast
  • bill1think2012

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