Shapleigh Stops Poland Springs' Spigot

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Shapleigh, ME--The people of Shapleigh, Maine voted overwhelmingly Saturday to halt
Nestlé’s water mining activities.  The vote represents a community victory against the multinational company’s plans to develop new water sources for its Poland Springs bottling brand in Maine.

Residents, water activists, and journalists flooded the elementary school cafeteria where residents voted 204 to 38 for a six-month moratorium on water extraction.  The moratorium is intended to provide time for the town to draft and approve a comprehensive water protection ordinance regulating water testing and large-scale pumping.  The town also shot down Nestlé’s request for access to a 150 acre parcel of town land to drill up to 15 test wells this coming spring to determine whether it was as an adequate site to install a new well-head. Residents stomped down the testing proposal 183 to 43.

In 2006 Nestle received permission from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to sink bore wells in the Vernon Walker Wildlife Management Area, land that Shapleigh and the neighboring town of Newfield both share.  Nestlé's initial interest was to sign a bulk water extraction contract with the State of Maine for water underneath Vernon Walker. When the state offered a price too high for Nestlé, the corporation turned to the town of Shapleigh across the road.

Nestle Poland Springs already draws water from eight sites across the state of Maine, reporting that it drained 700 million gallons of groundwater last year.  Nestle operates the largest spring water-bottling plant in North America in the rural town of Hollis, 25 miles east northeast of Shapleigh.

Citizen groups have sprung up in response to Nestlé’s aggressive bid for water contracts in pristine rural communities tucked among the mountains, rivers and ponds of Southern Maine. In Shapleigh, community members formed a grassroots organization, Protecting Our Water & Wildlife Resources (POWWR) with the mission to keep water in the hands of the citizens that use it simply to live. One of POWWR's main concerns is the effect of Nestle’s bulk water extraction on the local wildlife habitat, water quality, and water sustainability for future generations.  Speaking on POWWR’s contribution to the Shapleigh victory, chair member Ann Winn-Wentworth said, “Nestle has coined our group as ‘small and very vocal’ but our purpose is to educate voters on the facts. The residents of Shapleigh voted [Saturday], sending a resounding message that they are not ready for Nestle to move in. We want to see this statewide.

Now that Nestle has been defeated in Shapleigh, citizens and local water activists fear future encroachment of Nestle on the Vernon Walker site managed by the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.  A water-mining contract with Nestle might seem lucrative to the government agency struggling with insufficient funds.  However bottling companies do not really cover the various costs to local communities or what happens when the water is gone.  According to analysis by the consumer advocacy organization Food and Water Watch, jobs created by these bottling plants are seasonal, low paying and often go to people outside of the community. The constant roar of trucks leaving and entering the bottling plant has an impact on the quality of life of these rural communities. 

In June, Food & Water Watch partnered with Defending Water in Maine and other local allies to protest Nestlé’s proposed 30-year contract with the nearby town of Wells.  On July 18th, the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Wells Water (KKW) District decided to "infinitely table" Nestlé’s proposal which would have drained 500,000 gallons of water a day from the town’s fragile ecosystem.

"The extraction of any community’s water for sale has the potential to create a crisis," said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch.  "As communities enter into contracts with companies that extract water, it could become difficult for states and local governments to regulate water removal.  Nestle threatens the local people and businesses' of Maine and their right to use their public water resource reasonably for drinking, growing food and other activities in the community." 

At the state level, a coalition of activists and citizens are collaborating to develop legislation protecting groundwater across Maine.  A press rally in Portland last Wednesday marked the kick off for an initiative to protect Maine's groundwater supplies from corporate bulk water extraction.
 At the rally, state Rep. Rick Burns of Berwick announced that he has submitted a bill in the Legislature called "An Act to Protect Maine's Groundwater."  Over the summer, Maine communities brewed over the question of local groundwater extraction.  As the first frost falls, the state continues to bubble over the question of who will control the future of local water.

Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer rights organization based in Washington, D.C. that challenges the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources. Visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.