NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release June 3, 2002

Citizens Group Asks Court to Rule on Water Rights and Public Trust

Big Rapids, Mich.-- A citizens group of over 1,300 members has asked Mecosta County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Root to rule that the Perrier Group of America cannot sever and divert groundwater from a stream and sell it in bottles or any other containers without the express authorization of Michigan's legislature.

The Perrier Group wants to pump, bottle, and sell 400 gallons per minute, or 2.1 million gallons a year, of spring water that feeds a stream that is tributary to the Little Muskegon River. Perrier consultants project that pumping at these rates will diminish the flow of water in the stream by as much as thirty-five percent and on the average eighteen percent. "This water is held in common by nearby landowners, some who own property on the stream, and the State of Michigan," said Terry Swier, President of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation. "The water of Michigan is to be used in Michigan for the benefit of its citizens, not sold elsewhere for private profit, and never to return." The group has asked the court to rule that the Perrier expropriation and sale of water violates the law that applies to streams and the groundwater that feeds them. "The law allows reasonable use of water, but not the sale of water out of the watershed or Michigan," Swier said. "A sale of water of this nature breaches public trust and principals of common ownership in the water that benefits all citizens here in Michigan." She added.

The suit may well determine the future of Michigan's water resources and the rights of its citizens in those water resources. "If Perrier can claim this water as its own, it will receive billions of dollars in revenues without any accounting to the State and its citizens. Every company in the world will come in here and take it, and the State and its citizens won't receive a dime, and won't be able to do a thing about it," said Jim Olson of Olson & Bzdok, the firm who represents the group along with Jim Samuels of Big Rapids.

A hearing on the group’s request will be held on Tuesday, June 11th at 10:30 a.m. The group is also requesting the court to issue a preliminary injunction to protect the stream from any diminishment pending a full trial. That request will be heard on June 12th at 9:00 a.m. Both hearings will take place before Judge Root at the Circuit Court at 400 Elm Street in Big Rapids, Michigan.