www.saveMlwater.org

          MCWC

Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation

Volume 5          Issue 2

DO YOU DRINK BOTTLED WATER?

We all do! But some of us fill our own bottles from the tap rather than buy pre-bottled purified or spring water. Do you know the important differences between these water choices?

_ Tap water: Pretty self-explanatory; literally free of charge.

_ Pre-bottled purified water: The company must specify the water type on the label. Purified water usually comes from a municipal source. The water has gone through a treatment process. The water comes from the city's well fields; usually a deep defined' aquifer. This water does not come to the surface to feed streams, lakes and wetlands like spring water. The municipality also has control of the amount of water being used. For example: if drought conditions e_st, the municipality can decrease the amount of water bottled.

_ Bottled spring water: The bottler must specify the water type on the label. Under the Federal Food and Drug Administration's label regulations, in order to call the product spring water, the bottler must show an effect to the spring that is being pumped. This effect is shown through diminished flow, diminished level, or both. liThe water is then put through a treatment process.

Due to the FDA regulation, bottlers of spring water have a catch-22 situation. Bottlers claim they don't take enough spring water to have the spring environment harmed, yet the bottler has to show a diminishment in order to label their product as spring water. Bottlers of spring water must also list the sources of their spring water. For example: Ice Mountain might say "Spring Source: The Sanctuary, Rodney, Michigan. Plant: Stanwood, Michigan." You can look at the source and know exactly what environment is being affected by pumping.

The situation in the City ofEvart is rather tricky.. Nestle plans to bottle spring water using a municipal well in Evart. The well that Nestle will use pulls water from a spring-fed trout stream, thus the term "spring water." The City of Evart can diminish a stream flow IF it's for the use and betterment of Evart residents. --BtIt can a water bottler sever a publicly owned well, paid for with taxpayer dollars, and diminish a stream? And pocket the profit? .

What can you do?             /

Do not create a market for bott_! If you buy and drink

spring water you are helping to harm the environment fed by the spring source. If you must6uy bottled water, buy purified water that is somewhat regulated and comes

from a municipality. Better y_, -fill a bottle from the tap.

It saves the environment and it's freeY

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ANNUAL MEETING

MCWC's Annual Meeting will be held on December 10, 2005 from 10:00 a.m. to Noon at the Martiny Township Hall at 16731110'h Avenue, Rodney, MI49342. There will be a bake sale and silent auction so bring your check book and do some of your holiday shopping!

Note the change in location for the Annual Meeting. The Martiny Township Hall is located just north of 15 Mile Rd. . Take M-20 towards Rodney. Turn east at 14 Mile Rd. then north at 11 Olh Ave. The hall is on the northwest corner of 15 Mile and 110lh Ave.

Items are needed for the silent auction, and baked goods are appreciated. Contact Pat DeBellefeuille at 972-7188.

Water Facts

. Tap water: $.00 IS/gallon average . Filtered water: $.13/gallon average . Bottled water: $1.27/gallon average

. 9 out of 10 plastic water bottles end up as garbage or litter.

. MCWC has both plastic and aluminum reusable water bottles for sale. Save money and support MCWC by purchasing several for yourself, family and friends.

Membership Update

Thank you to the many members who renewed their membership since MCWC became an annual membership organization in July, 2005. Due to the cost of postage, receipts for dues and donations will not be sent unless the donation is $250 or more, or unless a receipt is requested.

Donations

Please take the time to make a generous donation to MCWC to .continue the fight and leave a legacy for our future generations. Donations and memberships can be made on-line at: www.saveMlwater.org. or mail your check to:

MCWC

P. O. Box 1 Mecosta, MI 49332

Name, Address, State/Zip Email

Court of Appeals: The Michigan Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the MCWC v. Nestle/Ice Mountain case on June 14,2005. No decision has been rendered as yet.

Volume 5, Issue 2, Page 2

Private vs. Public: Who Owns the Great Lakes? Terry Swier, President, MCWC

As Michigan and other Great Lakes states face major decisions on how to deal with the threat of Great Lakes exports and diversions, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC), who initially raised the issue of exporting water in bottles, is demanding that their govel11ments address this issue head-on. The, industry - Nestle - that is reaping huge profits from taking and selling the public's water should not be in the driver's seat on this issue.

The process of drawing up an interstate agreement, Annex 2001, to protect the Great Lakes from diversions and exports, began in 1998 when an Ontario company obtained a permit to remove up to 50 tankers per year of water from Lake Superior for sale to Asian customers. Citizens were understand­ably outraged over the proposed sale of public water. Now, after seven years of negotiation, a proposed agreement negotiated by only one environmental group "il11aa privafeousiness associatton-woald-allow even larger amounts of water to leave Lake Superior or other Great Lakes for Asian markets - or any market - as long as the water is put in bottles first. This frustrates MCWC's desire for a strong agreement preventing all major exports, and it sets a very negative legal precedent that would chill the right to regulate or prohibit diversions and exports in the future. For example, bottled water is often diverted from a watershed by pipeline or truck before it is bottled. Once it's in the pipe or on the truck, it could be more difficult to say where the bottling must take place.

The argument for creating this loophole is that bottled water is not a significant water use in the Great

Lakes Basin. But that misrepresents the threat posed by the bottled water industry in two ways. First, bottled water is a fast-growing industry; the volume of water captured by bottlers for sale is growing at an annual rate of 5 to 10 percent. Second, and far more importantly, bottled water is a use completely unlike most other uses of Great Lakes Basin water. Under traditional water law, businesses, farmers, cities, and individuals have a right to reasor.able use of water in the ground, lakes, and streams. But they cannot own it.

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Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation P.O. Box 1

Mecosta, MI 49332

Help preserve natural resources - recycle this newsletter by sharing it with a friend!

Wa

Water bottlers not only claim to own it, but sell it and make money from it - that is, they take a resource belonging to all of us under public trust law, and profit at public expense without our authorization.

None of the Great Lakes states - Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, & Illinois - has enacted legislation a_th.orizing private parties to take water and sell it for private pr<jfit. Therefore, it's inconceivable that an

'agreement designed to deal with Great Lakes water in a comprehensive way not only fails to call on the states to control such use and export, but also leaves open a loophole you can sail a tanker or drive a truck through.

While MCWC respects the hard work of the environmental groups that have tried to fashion a responsible Great Lakes water agreement, MCWC cannot support an agreement that completely exempts from controls or standards the only industry that claims it can take and sell Great Lakes water. Instead, _any_cc_p1flble agreement mus1.make.it .clear .tha_

. The public's water cannot be bottled and sold without strong state-by-state authorization and controls consistent with the public nature of the water.

. Exports of bottled Great Lakes Basin water will be treated just like all other exports - subject to a regional review process and a veto by any state.

Just like any other water export, bottled water needs to be tightly regulated. Great Lakes water should stay where it is. The proposed agreement opens a number ofloopholes in the region's defense against water exports and should be amended.

,For more information on proposed water legislation and the Great Lakes Great Michigan campaign, check out the following web sites: www.saveMIwater.org and www.greatlakesgreatmichigan.org. The Great Lakes Great Michigan web site has a user-friendly link to your state senator and representative. Let your legislators know that you want to put a stop to the "water free- for-all"! !

MCWC is a member of the Great Lakes Great Michigan coalition.