[All] Fwd: URGENT ACTION NEEDED!! Nestle Waters Canada – Permit to take Water renewal bid. Deadline is March 5, so please act NOW!

[Robert Milligan]

FYI
Robert M

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Wellington Water Watchers <wellingtonwaterwatchers at gmail.com>
> Date: February 24, 2011 10:23:31 PM GMT-05:00
> To: mill at continuum.org
> Subject: URGENT ACTION NEEDED!! Nestle Waters Canada – Permit to  
> take Water renewal bid. Deadline is March 5, so please act NOW!
>
>
> Hello Water Watchers, we need your HELP!
>
> URGENT ACTION NEEDED!! Nestle Waters Canada – Permit to take Water  
> renewal bid. Deadline is March 5, so please act NOW!
>
>
> As many of you may already know, Nestle Waters Canada has officially  
> applied for a renewal of its permit to take water in Aberfoyle, this  
> time for an unprecedented 10 years at up to 3.6 million litres per  
> day. The deadline for public comments is March 5th - less than 10  
> days away - so we're urging you to take some time right now to  
> submit your comments on this renewal bid. Scroll down for comment  
> suggestions AND the direct link to the Ministry of the Environment  
> comment page. Feel free to include your own comments too, of course,  
> or simply cut and paste the points you feel are most crucial. THE  
> IMPORTANT THING IS TO ACT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, please, as we must  
> put a stop to this unprecedented 10-year bid by Nestle - or  
> significantly alter it.
>
> WWW has requested an extension to this deadline because the proper  
> documents relating to the renewal bid were late coming to us. We are  
> not sure if we will be granted the extension, so all comments must  
> be submitted at the latest by March 5th.
>
> Please check our website wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca regularly over  
> the next few days to keep posted on news about the extension and  
> upcoming events. For now, mark your calendars for a special Friday  
> March 4th evening speakers' event at the E-bar (which will include  
> an opportunity to submit last-minute comments about the Nestle bid  
> to the MOE) more details coming soon. Please also encourage everyone  
> you know to come out on Saturday March 5th for a whole Community  
> March from downtown Guelph to the Nestle Waters plant in Aberfoyle.  
> Come for the whole march or join in for any part it. All details  
> will be sent out in another WWW newsletter early next week.
>
> Wellington Water Watchers is also seeking your support in a number  
> of ways during this important - and urgent - campaign. First, please  
> consider making a donation to our organization, by clicking here: http://www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca/donate/
>
> Second, consider becoming a WWW member (if you aren't already) - or  
> renewing your membership with us - by clicking on the following  
> link: http://www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca/home/become-a-member/.
>
> Third, spread this email far and wide.
>
> You can also follow @wwaterwatchers on Twitter or join our Facebook  
> group to spread the word: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_190733987624806&ap=1 
> .
>
> Many thanks for your ongoing support and assistance, helping us to  
> keep our water in the 'shed!
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Nagy and Andre Hueniken,
>
> Wellington Water Watchers Board Members
>
>
> Click Here for Wellington Water Watchers press release
>
> Nestle Waters Canada Permit to Take Water
>
> Nestle Waters Canada has applied for an unprecedented 10 year permit  
> extension to take 3.6 million litres of water per day at the  
> Aberfoyle site.  We strongly oppose this permit for the reasons  
> stated in the attached document, Wellington Water Watchers Technical  
> Submission. Please feel free to use these comments for your own  
> submission which can be copied into the following Ministry of  
> Environment Comment Link. Or use the short points listed below to  
> help you make your case to the Ministry.
>
> Please note we have requested a much needed extension to this  
> comment period but currently comments must be in on or before March  
> 5.  Your comments are critical to letting the Ministry of  
> Environment know about your concerns.
>
> The Wellington Water Watchers is a not-for-profit organization and  
> your financial support is much appreciated and funds are needed to  
> support this and other important campaigns.
>
>
>
> Thank you!
>
> Short Points
>
> Wellington Water Watchers opposes this application because:
> · The amount of groundwater in our Grand River watershed is not  
> known. Allowing large-volume water taking is like writing blank  
> cheques on a bank account with an unknown balance.
>
> · Water is too valuable a resource to be given away – and that’s  
> virtually what our province does by charging Nestlé and others a  
> mere $3.71 for every million litres taken.
>
> · In 2010, Nestlé paid just $2,238 for over 600 million litres of  
> water taken from Mill Creek in Aberfoyle. This works out to about . 
> 0000004 cents per litre, a far cry from the true value of such a  
> priceless resource.
>
> · Environmental harm being done. The millions of litres taken weekly  
> are put into single-use, disposable plastic bottles. The industry  
> claims 60% of these bottles are recycled – as what? – but that still  
> means hundreds of millions every year become litter, or trash in our  
> landfills. We call this a permit to pollute.
>
> · There are no water conservation measures built into this renewal  
> permit. The volume of water taken should be decreased annually to  
> encourage water conservation. This is one of the principles of  
> Ontario’s new Water Opportunities Act.
>
> · We believe that water taking is harming Mill Creek. There are no  
> brook trout in the stretch of creek that runs beside the bottling  
> plant, but there are trout in the rest of the creek. Is so much  
> water being taken that it is preventing spring water from upwelling  
> into the stream-bed? Until this is resolved, a precautionary  
> approach should be taken.
>
> · The applicant has asked for an unprecedented 10-year water-taking  
> permit. Yet we have no idea how drought or climate change will  
> affect Guelph’s water supply in years to come. At most, any new  
> permit should be issued for three years or less.
>
> · Much of the water when bottled leaves the Grand River watershed.  
> Justice Dennis O’Connor’s report on the Walkerton tragedy  
> recommended that water be managed on a watershed basis. Nestlé and  
> others should be required to use glass, deposit-bearing bottles that  
> are sold only within the Grand River watershed.
>
>
>
>
>

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