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DEVELOPMENT-U.S.
Nestlé Bottling Operations Court Controversy
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON, Apr 19, 2007 (IPS) - As Nestlé shareholders gathered Thursday in
Switzerland for their annual meeting, growing numbers of voices question
the company's claims on spring water around the world and its effects on
local communities.
The Sierra Club, a U.S.-based environmental organisation and shareholder
in Nestlé and Corporate Accountability International, led a gathering of
concerned citizens at Nestlé's North American headquarters in the
north-eastern city of Greenwich, Connecticut to call on the company to
"respect the right of local communities to exercise democratic control
over the use of their water."
"Water is essential to life on this earth and to the viability of local
communities," said Ruth Caplan, chair of the Sierra Club's Water
Privatisation Task Force. "Nestlé is bottling communities' spring water
without their informed consent. Nestlé profits while consumers pay more
than a thousand times the cost of their local water."
"(Water bottling) companies don't bring many jobs and often get tax breaks
so there is no tax return to the local community and the profits go out of
the community," said Peter Gleick, president of the independent Pacific
Institute, based in Oakland, California.
The Sierra Club intends to use its clout as a shareholder to demand a
reform of Nestlé's practices and make Nestlé acquire "full and informed
consent" from local communities where water is being bottled.
Criticism of Nestlé stems from a series of cases in which Nestlé Waters
North America was found to have damaged the environment through their
pumping operations.
Citizens groups in the states of Maine, Michigan and California have all
gone to court to contest Nestlé's bottling operations.
Terri Swifter, head of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, says
courts have ruled that Nestlé's pumping operations in the state are
harmful to the environment. "Water belongs to the people, not to Nestlé.
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation will continue to do all in our
power to protect Michigan waters from being pumped for profit so our water
will be available for future generations," she said.
The Sierra Club says Nestlé's bottling operations in the United States
have already degraded lakes, harmed wetlands, lowered water tables and
continue to pose a threat to residential and agricultural water supplies.
"At the local level, the effect of water withdrawal on local ecosystems
and water systems is a concern. Can the plant extract water without
damaging the natural environment or the community water supply? In most
cases, yes, but not always. The industry hasn't been very good at ensuring
it won't have bad impacts," Gleick told IPS.
Of great concern to the Sierra Club is the idea that water is being sold
at the market rate and "should not be relegated to the status of a
commodity."
Water is an essential human right which should not depend on the market to
determine who can afford it and who has access, says the group.
"Nestlé should not be undermining public confidence in tap water by
misleading the public to believe that their bottled water is somehow
better than tap water when tap water is more closely monitored for quality
than bottled water," Victoria Kaplan, organiser at Food & Water Watch,
told IPS.
Nestlé has consistently failed to obtain explicit consent from communities
affected by bottling operations at nearby water sources that serve the
communities' water needs, says
The Sierra Club, which urges the company to allow communities to vote with
regards to Nestlé's activities and ensure that the company does not use
its disproportionate power to influence the communities' decisions.
In recent years, local residents have taken a stronger stand against
companies' using their land, such as in the Nigerian Delta, where
communities expelled oil companies, and in the Peruvian town of
Tambogrande, where members of the community blocked a gold mine.
In 2005, the Framework for Responsible Mining, developed by
non-governmental organisations, retailers, investors and technical
experts, codified the right of communities to consent to operations on
their land.
The recent contract between Nestlé and the McCloud Community Service
District in Siskiyou County, California, infringes on the right of
residents of the McCloud River watershed to determine the use of community
resources and to decide on whether to grant access to Nestlé's bottling
operation, says the Sierra Club.
The McCloud Watershed Council says meaningful and timely community input
with regards to a contract with Nestlé was never solicited prior to the
district's vote to approve the contract.
Nestlé currently has 75 spring sites and produces seven brands of water in
the United States: Poland Spring, Ice Mountain, Deer Park, Zephyrhills,
Arrowhead and Calistoga.
(END)
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