[All] Fw: Media Release about Nestle in Hillsburgh

[Susan Bryant]

-----Original Message----- 
From: Robert A. Case
Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 3:11 PM
To: Robert A. Case
Subject: Media Release about Nestle in Hillsburgh

Hi friends, I'm sharing this as a proud member of the board of the 
Wellington Water Watchers. Good news for a change! Feel free to share 
further.

Rob

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Nestlé bows to pressure from community groups on bottled water fight

October 8, 2013
Media Release

Wellington Water Watchers, Ecojustice and the Council of Canadians are 
celebrating Nestlé Canada Inc.’s move to back down from a bottled water 
fight after the groups challenged Nestlé on its attempt to have drought 
restrictions dropped from one of its water takings in Ontario. On September 
17, Nestlé announced that it was withdrawing its appeal of drought 
restrictions on its water permit in Wellington County. A final decision by 
the Environmental Review Tribunal on whether it will approve Nestlé’s 
withdrawal and dismiss the proceedings is expected in the coming weeks.

Nestlé is allowed to pump and package 1.13 million litres of groundwater per 
day in Hillsburgh in Wellington County but challenged restrictions placed on 
its “Permit To Take Water” last year by the Ministry of the Environment. 
Last February, Nestlé announced it had persuaded the Ministry to remove the 
mandatory reductions, but this agreement was successfully challenged before 
the Environmental Review Tribunal of Ontario by the community groups.  In 
August, the Tribunal ruled that the settlement agreement between Nestlé and 
the Ministry was not in the public interest and that the original appeal 
should proceed to a full hearing.

“It was clear to us from the beginning that the lack of hydrological 
information would not support Nestlé’s appeal for very long. Sadly, the 
Ministry of the Environment failed to protect our communities’ water sources 
by negotiating a questionable settlement with Nestlé. It took action from 
Ecojustice lawyers representing the Council of Canadians and Wellington 
Water Watchers to make it clear that this appeal was unjustifiable, 
indefensible and not in the public interest,” says Mike Nagy, chair of 
Wellington Water Watchers. “Drought conditions are occurring more often due 
to climate change and the Ministry is not taking its responsibility to 
protect our groundwater seriously. Community groups shouldn’t have to put 
time and money into challenging the Ministry to do its job.”

“Nestlé didn’t deserve the red-carpet treatment, especially not when 
governments must preserve access to safe water for local communities,” said 
Will Amos, Director of the Ecojustice Clinic at the University of Ottawa. 
“Nestlé’s withdrawal of its appeal restores the correct order for water 
protection in Ontario, which is people, planet and then corporations who 
profit from our resources.”

“This case has highlighted the failings of the “Permit to Take Water” 
process in Ontario, particularly during times of drought. Not all permits 
are or should be treated equally, and we believe it is the government’s duty 
to protect groundwater and to prioritize water taking in favour of 
reasonable community use. We hope to see more mandatory restrictions on the 
water takings throughout the province where profit before conservation 
exists,” said Emma Lui, national water campaigner for Council of Canadians. 
“In fact, we hope to see the Ministry step up and uphold the precautionary 
principle to protect community water supplies when deciding whether to renew 
Nestlé’s permit once it expires in 2017.”

Nestlé’s water takings and the lack of groundwater regulation in British 
Columbia have come under public scrutiny over the last couple of months. The 
company withdraws up to 265 million litres a year for free from a well in 
Hope, B.C.

The movement to promote the human right to water and public water services 
recently spread to Switzerland where Nestlé is headquartered. Bern, 
Switzerland recently became the first Blue Community outside of Canada. The 
Blue Communities Project, launched by the Council of Canadians and the 
Canadian Union of Public Employees, designates municipalities Blue 
Communities when municipal governments pass resolutions to ban bottled water 
from municipal facilities, recognize water as a human right to water and 
promote public not-for-profit water and sanitation services.

Wellington Water Watchers, Ecojustice and the Council of Canadians have sent 
a 
letter<http://canadians.org/sites/default/files/water/MoE_Letterhead_8_Oct_2013.pdf> 
to the Minister of the Environment urging reforms to Ontario laws and 
policies needed to adequately protect Ontario’s rivers, lakes and 
groundwater. The groups’ recommendations include that the Ministry 
prioritize water uses, remove barriers to declaring a Level 3 drought and 
conduct cumulative impact assessments of water takings. Although the need 
for some of these reforms has been documented in previous studies, this case 
has again demonstrated the urgency of this need.

– 30 –

For media inquiries:

Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians, (613) 
795-8685<tel:%28613%29%20795-8685>, 
dpenner at canadians.org<mailto:dpenner at canadians.org>, 
www.canadians.org/water<http://www.canadians.org/water> | Twitter: 
@CouncilOfCDNs

Mike Nagy, Chair, Wellington Water Watchers, (519) 
829-6249<tel:%28519%29%20829-6249>, 
wellingtonwaterwatchers at gmail.com<mailto:wellingtonwaterwatchers at gmail.com>, 
www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca<http://www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca> | 
Twitter: @wwaterwatchers

Will Amos, Director of the Ecojustice Clinic at the University of Ottawa, 
613-255-7505<tel:613-255-7505>, www.ecojustice.ca<http://www.ecojustice.ca>, 
| Twitter: @ecojustice_ca



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