Help put the brakes on Nestle's Water Bottling Plant!

Seems like the above article didn't have any web linx. Here's a few with more info/contacts/etc..

This from the Water For All campaign, reclaiming the public water supply from privatization;

"As the world's water becomes scarce and corporations seek to exploit this scarcity for profit, people around the world are losing ownership and control of water resources on which they depend. Water is a human right; to the extent one has the right to live, one has the right to water. Public Citizen's Water for All Campaign is dedicated to protecting water as a common resource, stopping water privatization and bulk water sales, and defending access to clean and affordable water around the world."

cont's @;
http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/

here's some inter/national water commons sites @;
http://www.mccloudwatercommons.org/

This from McCloud Watershed Council;

"McCloud Watershed Council was formed as a grassroots response to an unprecedented plan by Nestlé Waters North America to appropriate and sell millions of gallons of water belonging to the small historic mill town of McCloud, California. We are a 501(c)3 organization. You may contact us at:

McCloud Watershed Council
PO Box 449
McCloud, CA 96057

Email us at
info [at] mccloudwatershedcouncil.org.

or visit @;
http://www.mccloudwatershedcouncil.org/

Water for All from Oxfam GB contains teaching material fro classrooms;

"Water for All contains classroom activities and case studies on a range of water-related issues and their impacts, using Oxfam colour photographs. Ideal for teaching 9–13 year olds – try it on your interactive whiteboard!"

teaching supplies @;
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/water/

Here's the original Food & Water Watch website @;
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/waterprivatization

Intro for water communities & privatization (see regional map);

"Around the world, communities are fighting to retain and strengthen the local control of their water resources. We provide support for the residents, elected officials, water utility staff, and community leaders who are fighting to protect their water from corporate control. In addition to serving as a clearinghouse for communities facing privatization, we alert public officials and concerned citizens about the economic, social and environmental benefits of local ownership, and the risks of privatization.

People have won real victories in protecting their water resources--from the small coastal town of Montara, California, to the highlands of Cochabamba, Bolivia, to the great city of New Orleans. Here you’ll find information on where people are challenging corporate control of water around the world, and what they’re doing to win. Help us build this network. Something happening in your community? Have questions? Let us know - email us at water(at)fwwatch.org."

water [at] fwwatch.org

i was just cutting and pasting from an email in a hurry. i post a lot of stuff from email. please feel free to post their stuff instead of me doing it.

http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/boycott.html

Even after it was exposed way back in the 80s that Nestle purposefully shipped poisoned baby formula to poor countries, they are still being boycotted by advocates of healthy baby-raising.

While your in-the-system efforts to stop these terrorists are bold and necessary, I urge you to prepare yourself for direct action if you really wish to win this battle. That means taking out everything nestle - and its paid shills - are gonna erect in the coming months and years.

Keep in mind that 'the system' is firmly in the hands of corps like nestle. you will find this out sooner or later. the sooner you figure out that direct action gets the goods, the sooner nestle will be gone and the water left for the comunity.

http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/history.html

There are more and more corporates trying to profite from the growing lack of water and to make money out of it. Nestlé as the number one in bottled water has developped very agressive strategies.But there are also more and more people standing up, getting organized and resisting to these politics. Tony Clarke from the Polaris Institute in Canada assembled informations about the practicies of the 3 most important companies in bottled water: Nestlé, Coca-cola and Pepsi. In the great book "Inside the bottle" he discribes what's going on the US and in Canada as well as about the resistances. There you see that their strategy is not unique to your community but universal (there are other well known cases of Sao Laorenzo in Brazil or of Bevaix in Switzerland.

Tim Dickinson, candidate for the McCloud Community Services District is quoted in the Mount Shasta Herald as saying, “If you opened 50 faucets in McCloud 24/7, that's the maximum amount they are taking,” Dickinson said.

Sorry, Tim, but your mistaken. Badly mistaken. Can't say if you're trying to bullshit folks, or if your math skills are not up to speed, but 1600 acre feet per year translates to over 1.4 million gallons per day. approximately 1000 gallons per minute. A typical kitchen or bathroom "faucet" will produce one or two gallons per minute. So the number of faucets required to produce this amount of water is actually closer to 500-1000 faucets running 24/7.

Although letting even 50 faucets run 24/7 is pretty irresponsible, letting 500 or 1000 do so is worse, duh.

I wrote a comment on the subject a couple of hours ago to Siskiyou Planning. Before i did the math on Candidate Dickinson's claim. Here it is, in case you're interested.

Malcolm Drake
Grants Pass, Oregon

Hi, Mr. Barber,

I hope I am not too late to comment on the proposed Nestle bottling plant in the McCloud area.

I’ve written several people over the last year on this issue, but only now found out about comments being accepted.

There are, obviously, many issues that need to be addressed, but I will limit mine to two issue-groundwater and truck traffic volume.

The contract between Nestle and the McCloud Community Services district appears to allow Nestle to use as much groundwater as it sees fit, with no payment to the District. If past history with Nestles is any indication, Nestle may well begin harvesting groundwater, and selling it as “spring water”. Current federal rules allow this to happen, as long as Nestle can make the claim that the groundwater and the spring water come from the same aquifer. If you need documentation of this, I’d be happy to provide it.

The point is, although many of the proponents of this bottling plant claim the amount of water is “miniscule” at 1600 acre feet, many times that much water may end up being used by Nestle, with possibly major impacts to area wells.

My second issue is that several proponents of the project call this a “clean industry”. Sure, parts of the project are clean. But 300-500 round trips per day by trucks is hardly “clean” . We’re looking at thousands of gallons of fuel burned per day, and this is without considering the fact that the number of trucks could easily increase by one or two orders of magnitude, if Nestle decides to sell groundwater as “spring water”.

I recommend that anyone who favors this proposal do a bit of research on other areas which have come to rue the day that they sold their water rights to either Nestle or any other bottling company.

Malcolm Drake
1200 Jumpoff Joe Creek Road
Grants Pass, Oregon 97526
541 476 6166