Judge halts water bottling operation

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=92 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#33CCFF" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B>Seven  Creeks  Roadside  Spring Water</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Seven Creeks Roadside Spring Water"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> <B>Judge halts water bottling operation</B>   |   <A HREF="id548.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flying Squirrel Story">Flying Squirrel Story</A>   |   <A HREF="id589.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PostGazette Article">Post-Gazette Article</A>   |   <A HREF="id798.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hornet Swarm Hat">Hornet Swarm Hat</A>   |   <A HREF="id726.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Misc">Misc</A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> We do not know all the details here, but, we do know  that water that is pumped  from the ground is different than the water that naturally flows. That is why we have built a tank and only sell naturally flowing spring water. It limits the amount of water we can sell, however, we feel it is the right thing to do. </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=388 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <I>Judge halts water bottling operation</I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Judge halts water bottling operation. Ice Mountain plant damages environment, state judge rules </div> <div> By JAMES PRICHARD AP business writer </div> <div>       A judge on Tuesday ordered the company that produces Ice Mountain bottled water to stop drawing water from wells in a Michigan county, saying the operation could damage the environment. </div> <div>       In a decision released Tuesday, Mecosta County Circuit Judge Lawrence C. Root said the withdrawals have caused a "material diminishment" of water flows and levels in neighboring lakes, streams and wetlands. </div> <div>       Ice Mountain is one of the most popular brands of bottled water in the Midwest. Its parent company is Nestle Waters North America, the maker of brands such as Poland Spring, Arrowhead and Deer Park. Ice Mountain spokeswoman Deborah Muchmore said Ice Mountain will pursue an appeal. "This ruling is extreme, and holds serious and far-reaching implications," Michael Haines, an attorney representing Nestle Waters North America, said in a statement. "If Ice Mountain's insignificant effect is considered a violation of MEPA (Michigan Environmental Protection Act), then what water user -- industrial, commercial, golf course or farmer -- would not be in similar violation?" </div> <div>      In the suit that Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation filed in June 2001, the group asked for a halt to production at the Ice Mountain Spring Water Co. bottling facility in Mecosta Township, about 50 miles north of Grand Rapids. </div> <div>       The lawsuit said the plant's high-volume pumping would lower lake and stream levels near the wells from which Ice Mountain draws its water. The company operates four wells in Mecosta County's Morton Township and pumps the water about 13 miles southwest to the plant. </div> <div>      The water comes from an aquifer that is part of the west branch of the Little Muskegon River watershed. </div> <div>      The suit claimed that the withdrawals harm or likely will harm the environment, violate state environmental protections and infringe upon the group members' riparian rights -- a reference to enjoying the aesthetic and recreational qualities of a body of water. </div> <div>      Root, who heard weeks of testimony in the case last spring and summer, agreed. "The groundwater use is of inferior legal standing than the riparian rights," he wrote. The judge stressed that he was not ordering the facility closed. "The prediction (threat?) that Nestle employees will lose their jobs and the community lose a valuable corporate citizen and taxpayer is entirely in the control of the decision makers at Nestle," Root wrote. "They can develop alternative water sources that do not present the kind of risks that this one does and, after an initial capital outlay, continue bottling and selling water." </div> <div>      Plant representatives say never before has a company in Michigan done so much testing and monitoring of its groundwater withdrawals, even though the state has no requirements for reporting ongoing withdrawals. </div> <div>      The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's water division granted a permit allowing the water-bottling plant in southwestern Mecosta County to withdraw up to 400 gallons per minute, or 576,000 gallons per day. </div> <div>      Since production started, the plant's average pumping rate has been around 200 to 250 gallons per minute, officials said earlier. </div> <div>      But Root said that is still too much. "I am unable to find that a specific pumping rate lower than 400 gallons per minute, or any other rate to date, will reduce the effects and impact to a level that is not harmful," he wrote. </div> <div>      Nestle attorney Haines said, "The court fundamentally misunderstood the scientific evidence and testimony presented during trial. "The court was misled by plaintiffs' predictions of stream and wetland level declines. Those predictions have been proven wrong by the actual water level measurements taken at the site during the summer and fall, subsequent to the trial." </div> <div>      NWNA is the nation's largest producer of bottled water, Muchmore said. Ice Mountain is one of its 18 regional bottlers and the brand is distributed throughout the Great Lakes states. </div> <div>      Terry Swier, who moved to Mecosta County's Martiny Township in 1999, helped establish Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation in December 2000. She and her husband, Gary, and some neighbors formed the group because they were worried that the water-bottling project was moving too quickly. She said Root's decision established an important precedent. "This sets the stage for another big piece of the puzzle and that is getting water legislation in Michigan -- some strong water legislation," she said. </div> <div>      The debate over the water withdrawals nearly turned violent in September. Ice Mountain workers making a routine check of a Martiny Township pumping station discovered a broken-out glass-block window and found unexploded, homemade firebombs. The radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility. The FBI is investigating. </div> <div>      Since opening last year, the water-bottling plant has tripled the number of people working there to 155 and expanded its size by 75 percent, with more employment growth expected next year. </div> <div> Muchmore said there are no plans to lay off any of the workers as the company charts its course in the coming months. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B> </B></I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>