PRESS RELEASE

January 26, 2004

Contact:

Terry Swier, President Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation

231-972-8856

Jim Olson, Attorney for Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation

231-946 0044

(Mecosta, Michigan, January 26, 2004) Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) today sent to Governor Granholm and Steve Chester, Director of the Department of Environmental Quality a five-point approach to address the Governor’s call for the adoption of a Michigan Legacy Act. Michigan Citizens has been working to ensure that Michigan takes charge and becomes the steward of Michigan’s water future for all of Michigan’s citizens and businesses. "Our experience in achieving victory against Nestle Waters unlawful diversion and sale of water from a watershed in Mecosta County has made it very clear that Michigan cannot wait any longer to act," said Terry Swier, President of the organization. "The looming world water crisis thirsts for Michigan’s water. More inaction will send the wrong message to other companies, like Nestle. Michigan’s water is not for sale but for use: for our farms, manufacturers, tourism, and recreation, like boating, fishing, hunting, golf, and skiing. Our quality of life, economy and water are one and the same," Swier said.

MCWC’s five-point approach builds on the fundamental realization that Michigan’s water is a valuable public resource to be held and managed in trust for the benefit of Michigan’s citizens.

1. Part 1 - Adopt a Michigan Water Protection and Conservation Act that declares and asserts the State’s common law sovereign interest in the water as a public resource and declares it held in trust on behalf of its people and the State’s future security.

2. Part 2 - Adopt a Prohibition Against Water Diversions for Sale Act. This would prohibit the diversion for sale of water out of our watersheds and the Great Lakes basin consistent with the Michigan Constitution, Art 4, Sec. 52, the common law of water, and existing statutes (Only if there is a compelling humanitarian purpose should Michigan allow the diversion and sale of its water, and then only with the consent of the legislature and a very narrow set of circumstances).

3. Part 3 - Adopt a Water Resources Protection, Conservation and Withdrawal Act that is consistent with the State’s public interest in the water, the public trust in navigable lakes and streams and their tributary waters, and the common law regarding private rights to use water under riparian-groundwater law. Withdrawals that result in a diversion from and diminishment of a lake or stream are subject to more stringent principles, than withdrawals from groundwater generally.

4. Part 4 - Adopt a Water Resources Planning Act that requires preparation of a State Water Resources Plan. The Plan would account for the water, its character, scarcity or abundance, and its use and existing and future needs, including sustainability of the environment. The Plan would promote sound conservation, alternatives, and restoration and enhancement within Michigan and the Great Lakes basin as it relates to people, their health and safety, industry, recreation, economy, and quality of life. Local governments would be able to adopt their own watershed plans as part of their existing land use planning and regulation.

5. Part 5 - Adopt a Water Resources Protection and Conflict Resolution Act that provides for the resolution of conflicts between groundwater users or groundwater users and the environment, health, safety and general welfare, taking into account the standards in Part 3, above. This would also provide equal access and expertise to residents and communities whose water wells or supplies are impacted by large withdrawals, so that water can be better conserved and balanced resolutions achieved.

"These five points flow from our State Constitution and common law of water rights, the public trust in our State’s precious waters, and the Governor’s signal, even during her campaign, that Michigan’s water future must be secured," Swier added.

"The Governor is on the mark with her call for protecting our water legacy," Jim Olson, attorney for Michigan Citizens said. "What remains to be seen is whether the Governor and Legislature will protect this legacy or abdicate their trust toward our citizens and future generations who will inherit it." MCWC’s Five Points are about stewardship. They also build on the past work of others, such as Senator Sikkema’s water task force, Senator Burkholz’s hearings on a proposed groundwater law last spring, and the principles vindicated by Judge Root’s decision prohibiting any further diversion and sale of water out of Michigan’s watersheds," he said.

MCWC has submitted its Five Point plan because of the Governor’s announcement and call for immediate legislative action. "Despite a circuit court’s final decision the sale of water out of our watersheds is wrong, Nestle is willfully moving ahead to develop yet another well," Terry Swier said. "We cannot afford to allow Nestle or others like it to plunder our water legacy. The time is now."

The Five Point Approach to Protect and Conserve Michigan’s Water Resources and Future can be found on Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation’s web site at www.saveMIwater.org.

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