Outrage as Nestlé Plan to take 1.1m gallons of water a day from natural springs.

Food and drink giant Nestlé, have come under fire for planning to take over 1.1 million gallons of water from an “in recovery” natural springs.

Ginnie Springs in Florida has been chosen as the new large-scale pumping site for Nestlé Waters, despite concerns that it will not be able to sustain large volumes of water being taken from it.

To begin pumping the water from Ginnie Springs, Nestlé first needs the Suwannee River Water Management District to renew an expired water use permit owned by a local company, Seven Springs.

Nestlé plan to pump out over four times more water per day than the previous record for Ginnie Springs, yet insist that this will not lower the water levels due to their “robust” plan for sustaining their water sources in the long term.

A statement on the Nestlé Waters North America website said: “Springwater is a rapidly renewable resource when managed correctly. Nestlé Waters North America is committed to the highest level of sustainable spring water management at all of the springs we manage."

There has been a campaign against Nestlé’s pumping of Ginnie Springs, with an online forum and petition being set up to prevent Nestlé getting the license.

Many letters of opposition have also been sent to the water management district which claim that Nestlé’s plan should fail on environmental grounds.

Non-profit organisation Our Santa Fe River, is involved with river conservation and is campaigning to halt Nestlés pumping of Ginnie Springs.

Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, who runs Our Santa Fe River, said in an interview with The Guardian: "The question is how much harm is it going to cause the spring, what kind of change is going to be made in that water system?”

"It's impossible to withdraw millions of gallons of water and not have an impact. If you take any amount of water out of a glass you will always have less."

Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

29 August 2019

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