Great Lakes Water

Nestle Bottling Plant in Michigan to Aid in Flint Water Crisis

Flint Water Crisis

From 2016 – Calls for Nestle to Help With Flint Water Crisis. Calls are continuing requesting that Michigan Governor Rick Snyder take over operations at the Nestle Bottling Plant in Mecosta County, Michigan, to bring clean, lead-free drinking water to Flint. Currently, neither the State of Michigan nor the Federal government has begun operations on the water system to bring Flint residents to clean water despite being a declared State of Emergency.

Nestle Sucks Michigan Water to Sell For Practically Nothing

Nestlé came to Michigan with plans to pump 720,000 gallons per day of spring water from a private hunting preserve, pipe it to its plant, bottle it, and ship it out of the Great Lakes Basin. Nestle does not pay a dime to the citizens of the State of Michigan for this natural resource nor offer any attempt to restore lost water to the Great Lakes. Nestlé’s pumping has lowered streams, two lakes, and adjacent wetlands. Nestlé continues to pump at high rates during periods of lower rainfall and recharge.

Flint Water Crisis
American Red Cross in Flint, Michigan

The Flint Water Crisis Continued

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) – the same regulator which permitted Flint’s water to be contaminated and allowed ongoing damaging water extraction by Nestle – recently permitted yet another Nestle extraction well, and this despite flawed data.

As the crisis in Flint worsens, Matt Zandstra, a father from Wyoming, Michigan resident, is partnering with SumOfUs, a global consumer group, to call out Governor Snyder for his close ties to Nestlé. Nestle currently takes water from Michigan’s aquifers at 218 gallons per minute. The petition draws attention to the fact that Flint’s poor and black residents do not have access to safe drinking water, while at the same time, Nestlé is the largest owner of private water sources in the state.

Over the past three months, ongoing global news coverage highlighted by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s series of reports on the  Flint Water Crisis has brought global attention to the crisis in Michigan and the failure of emergency managers in Michigan.

Update New Owner Won’t Increase Water Volume

The new owner of the former Nestle bottling plant operation in western Michigan said it won’t use a state permit that would allow it to significantly boost water withdrawals.

The previous owner, Nestle, of the Ice Mountain plant had received state approval to pump 400 gallons a minute from a well near Evart in Osceola County, a 60% increase. BlueTriton Brands recently indicated to state regulators that it would tap at 288 gallons a minute. This would avoid some regulatory oversite of the operation.

  • Supreme Court May Decide Access on Great Lakes Beaches – Michigan stands to be impacted the most if the Supreme Court takes the case and agrees with the Plaintiffs. With over 3,200 miles of shoreline, Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline in the US and the second longest coastline next to Alaska.
  • Chrysler LeBaron GT- Last Summer with a Great Old Car – The LeBaron was a catch-all name at Chrysler in the 1990’s but the vehicle was based on the famous K-Car platform derivative that saved Chrysler from certain death from bankruptcy in the early 1980’s.
  • Flint Michigan Water Crisis History Timeline – In April 2014, the City of Flint, Michigan, switched from water from Lake Huron provided by Detroit to utilizing water taken from the Flint River. This was a cost-saving move under the leadership of a succession of Flint emergency managers appointed by Michigan governor Rick Snyder.
  • Are Foreign Companies Stealing Great Lakes Water? – In 2018 there was a public comment period in which over 80,000 Michigan residents submitted objections to a permit that allows Nestle to pump over half a million gallons of water a day from Michigan aquafers. A public resource.
  • 2020 Great Lakes Water Levels – Updated each month. Excepts from the Army Corps of Engineers – Detroit District’s Monthly and Weekly reports for Great Lakes Water Levels and Great Lakes Water Level History.
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Michael Hardy

Michael Hardy is the owner of Thumbwind Publications LLC. Michael was born in Michigan and grew up near Caseville. In 2009 he started this fun-loving site covering Michigan's Upper Thumb. Since then, he has authored a vast range of content and established a loyal base of 60,000 visitors per month.

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