Erin councillors seemed happy last week with a Nestle Waters Canada report that revealed extraction at the company’s Hillsburgh well was down by 63% last year.
Just over 54 million litres (about 14 million US gallons) was extracted in 2007, far less than the almost 146 million litres (about 38 million gallons) taken from the well in 2006.
Councillor Barb Tocher said she is “very pleased” to see extraction had dropped at the well by over half.
She explained less water leaving the Hillsburgh well means less money for the town, but more importantly, less impact on the local aquifer.
A few years ago the town successfully negotiated a fee of $0.50 for every thousand gallons extracted from the Hillsburgh site. At its highest, the fee totalled about $30,000 for the town, and in 2006 it amounted to about $19,000.
But for 2007 the township will receive just over $7,000.
Mayor Rod Finnie told council he thinks the dramatic decrease was the result of a business decision by Nestle.
He said some company officials were wondering why they were paying to transport water to Aberfoyle when there is already a well at that location which was not used to its full capacity.
Although he too seemed pleased with the report, Finnie said if the well in Hillsburgh is not needed, perhaps Nestle should close it.
That led councillor Ken Chapman to quip that perhaps the company was going to “empty Aberfoyle first,” and then come back to Hillsburgh.
Nestle President Gail Cosman did not return phone calls from The Advertiser.
