Dear Editor:
I thought that giving a permit to take water to a commercial water bottler when a municipality needed the water would boggle common sense and could just not happen here.
But Nestlé Waters bought the Middlebrook well in 2016 despite the township’s offer and need for the water. Nestlé Waters has known for years the township needs that water. Then Nestlé tried selling its Canadian water bottling business to Ice River Springs without even approaching the township to see if Centre Wellington was interested in purchasing the well!
The township’s water supply is now identified at “significant risk” by the province’s Tier 3 study. We need four new wells according to our Water Supply Master Plan and the best location for them is north and west of Elora. Centre Wellington has already spent close to $1 million getting water mains to access water from that area!
The recent Ontario government proposals for new water permit regulations will require that the water bottler has support from the municipality. Our municipality has made it abundantly clear in a unanimous resolution that it is not a willing host community to commercial water bottlers under any circumstance.
That recent provincial proposal also included priority setting for water use in case of a conflict like in Centre Wellington with municipal water supply coming first.
Sounds good, and we hope these proposals become regulation.
But we still need to protect that water and get Middlebrook off the table for any new deal Nestlé could make with another potential buyer!
The water is not safe yet!
Penny Lipsett,
Elora
Editor’s note: Centre Wellington did not make an offer on the Middlebrook well property until well after Nestlé Waters made a conditional offer to purchase it.