Save Our Water wants residents off the sidelines to bring water bottling issues to the forefront of provincial and municipal election agendas.
The Elora Legion auditorium was at two-thirds capacity as area residents attended a May 9 meeting hosted by Save Our Water.
Dana Rodgers
“Some people say that the Save Our Water campaign, ‘Say No To Nestle’, is just another ‘not in my backyard’ exercise.
“Well, shocking as it might seem, the Save Our Water campaign is, it definitely is, a ‘not in my backyard’ issue. We are NIMBYs here, every last one of us! But have a look at that back yard!”
Jan Beveridge
Jan Beveridge of Save Our Water stated, “This is the local story occurring underneath the radar that the public has to know. Our township is facing several water challenges. Besides Nestlé’s purchase of the Middlebrook well, there is the township’s shocking new population target announce in May 2016.
“The province and the county determined that we are to double the number of residents in Fergus and Elora by 2041. Very few communities face this accelerated growth rate.”
She said that two years ago, concerned residents hired their own hydrogeologist to undertake a thorough investigation of Nestlé’s impact on the township’s water system.
That report issued in May 2016 predicted that several of Centre Wellington’s eight municipal wells are incapable of pumping to their permitted amount.
Further she stated these wells may not support the area’s forecasted growth, meaning additional new wells may be needed.
“Nestlé’s water-taking at Middlebrook will directly compete with Centre Wellington’s expansion of its municipal water system,” she stated
Beveridge said, “So here’s the story most of you haven’t heard. Where does the water come from for our wells? Under our community the water flows north to south through cracks and fissures in the deep bedrock, and this direction determines where best to locate a new municipal well.”
She contended that extending the well system south of Fergus is not feasible due to the city of Guelph’s well capture zones, which extend north to Swan Creek at the south end of Fergus.
Beveridge stated “logically, the best locations for future municipal wells are to the east of Fergus and west of Elora.”
Beveridge said, “We the taxpayers and municipal water users will have to pay more when the town has to go further afield for good water sources, or has to pay to treat poorer quality water to bring it up to standard.”
Beveridge said “under any scenario Nestlé’s water taking is a huge risk for our municipal water system and our wallets.”
She said, “It is important that we residents understand these challenges with our water system, and understand that Centre Wellington’s ability to service its growth will be put in serious jeopardy by Nestlé’s commercial extraction at the Middlebrook well.”
Amy Corner
Corner said, “Our mayor says he is waiting for the science. We are telling Kelly Linton he has waited long enough. Further delay represents an abandonment of his responsibility to protect water for his children and ours. There is sufficient science right now to say ‘No!’ to Nestle.”
Corner contended the local studies are all short term – 20 years – a single generation. “We insist on planning for many generations into the future.
“The mayor knows that if all of us here tonight had not pushed hard for the Tier 3 study, a decision on the Middlebrook well would have been based on the now outdated and wrong science of 2015.”
Corner said, “Climate scientists warn us that Canada’s hydrological cycle is changing and accelerating. Climate science is trying to catch up but the changes are evolving at a faster rate.”
She said “today’s science is not going to answer tomorrow’s questions. The waiting for the science and the evidence line is not acceptable.”
Donna McCaw
“We know that democracy is not a spectator sport,” says Donna McCaw of Save Our Water.
“We are not up against just any business. This is Nestle. The challenge for us is who controls the ground water we depend upon … the people of Ontario or a foreign corporation?”
McCaw said, “In the end, it is our community, our wells, farms, industry, businesses and future growth that will be hurt. If Nestle gets a permit to pump water here, we could experience the water nightmare that other parts of the world are in now.”
McCaw stated, “Other communities have beaten back Nestlé and we can too! We will not be bullied, bankrupted or manipulated. We need policies that lock out a company that would privatize the water a community needs.”
She said, “This is not about any business. This is about Nestle. This company puts our community at serious risk. We need to see better provincial legislation that protects water.”
McCaw said, “We need to know where each candidate both provincially and municipally stands on this issue. Let them all know about our sincere concerns about available, accessible water.
“Let them know we do not support privatization of water. Ask questions, get answers and vote accordingly for the provincial candidate and municipal ones in the fall election.”
She said residents need to tell the mayor, councillors and all candidates running for both the provincial and then the municipal elections to stop this threat.
Mayor Kelly Linton
Linton spoke briefly on actions the township has taken and said, “Nothing is more important to us than looking after our water.”
Linton agreed commercial water taking should be treated differently than any other kind of water taking.
Linton stated the township has already passed a resolution that it would not pursue any agreements or discussions with Nestlé and that it would oppose any water bottling which would adversely affect the municipality’s water supply.
