Nestlé applies for a five-year permit to take up to 3.6 million litres per day at the Aberfoyle well, and the battle against water bottling heats up.

War Over Our Water: A who’s who in the city’s latest, brand new and ballooning grassroots fight — this time against Nestlé’s bottling operations in Aberfoyle

Guelph, May 5, 2007 by Scott Tracey

Six weeks ago, the Wellington Water Watchers did not exist.

Now the Guelph-based grassroots organization boasts more than 200 paid members. Its website has been viewed more than 5,000 times and has spawned a knock-off site, apparently registered to a corporation based in Mumbai, India, and seemingly designed to steer cyber-surfers away from the actual Wellington Water Watchers site.

In the last two weeks the group has brought federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow to the Royal City. At a recent strategy session, the Wellington Water Watchers’ name was being thrown about like you’d have to be living under a rock to not know who they are or what they’re about... Read More

Wellington Water Watchers launches a media and postcard campaign to oppose the permit renewal, generating over 6,000 letters of opposition.

As a long time citizen of Guelph, I am concerned about our Aberfoyle Springs watershed. I am against the renewal of Nestlé’s water taking permit. Let’s keep our water public!

Nestlé keeps pumping on its previous permit, and opposition continues to spread in the community. Inundated with a far larger public response than ever before, the Ministry of the Environment delays decision-making.

This same year, Hillside Music Festival goes bottled water free.

April, 2008

Nestlé’s permit renewal is approved, but is held to two years rather than the five years requested, and with “additional and more comprehensive monitoring conditions” at the Aberfoyle site, including increases in “the frequency of measurement and the number of gradient monitoring locations” as well as “habitat and ecological studies.”

The influence of grassroots opposition is apparent, but the Wellington Water Watchers and their networks are ultimately disappointed. In the same month, Wellington Water Watchers gets incorporated.

Nestlé permit capped

Guelph, April 18, 2008 by Doug Hallett

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment has decided to heed city council’s advice and renew Nestlé’s water-taking permit in Aberfoyle only for two years, not the five years the company had been seeking.

Wellington Water Watchers, a local group that vigorously opposed Nestlé’s application last year for a five-year renewal, is unhappy the company will be allowed to keep withdrawing up to 3.6 million litres of water a day in Aberfoyle for its water bottling plant there, said the group’s co-founder Mark Goldberg. “However, we are quite happy that they took the city’s advice” on the shorter renewal term, he said Thursday... Read More

January, 2009

Beginning January 1, large scale water-takers in Ontario have to pay a levy of $3.71 per million litres to the Province of Ontario. The levy was created as a means of recovering some of the costs of the permitting system and is explicitly not intended to represent a “price” for the purchase of water.

Even pumping at their permitted maximum of 4.7 million litre per day (3.6 million in Aberfoyle and 1.1 million in Hillsburgh), Nestlé Waters Canada would still pay no more than $17 per day.

Message in the Bottle (2009-2011)

Wellington Water Watcher receives funding, hires an executive director and project staff, and designs and delivers water education (and refillable bottles) to 20,000 Grade 6 kids across the Upper Grand District School Board for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. Focused on conservation and on generating active environmental stewardship, Message in a Bottle engaged dozens of volunteer educators and thousands of Grade 6 students in learning about their water, where it comes from, and how to maintain a secure, safe, and accessible supply into the future.

To get kids to appreciate, value and take advantage of the high-quality public water systems available in most Canadian municipalities, Wellington Water Watchers distributes thousands of refillable stainless steel water bottles at cost ($5 each) as an affordable and sustainable alternative to packaged water. Nestlé is not impressed.”

Nestlé miffed by presentation at schools Wellington Water Watchers has spoken at both Catholic and public schools

Guelph, May 22, 2010 by Joanne Shuttleworth

Neither the local Catholic nor the public school board wants to wade into the stormy waters that rage between Nestlé Waters Canada and the Wellington Water Watchers, and they don’t see allowing the local water watchdog to make presentations in schools as taking sides.

“Not a lot of content is delivered to students by Wellington Water Watchers,” Don Drone, director of the Wellington Catholic District School Board said Thursday. “For us the message is conservation. Anything we can do to conserve is good.”

John Challinor, director of corporate affairs for Nestlé Waters Canada, says he sent letters to both the Upper Grand and Wellington Catholic District School Board complaining that Wellington Water Watchers is spreading incorrect information when it makes presentations to school children. “Their information is not foot-noted,” Challinor said in an interview earlier this week... Read More

Blue W

In the same year, Wellington Water Watchers brings the Blue W program to Guelph. The Blue W program encourages downtown store owners to post a blue W in their window to invite people looking for water to go in and refill their bottles for free. The City of Guelph gives Wellington Water Watchers a Water Conservation Award in recognition of its work.

Water Walks to Protest Bottling

A lone Fergus activist, Shane Phillips, conducts a solo walk from Guelph to Queen’s Park in Toronto to protest Nestlé’s water taking initiatives. His walk inspires other protest marches to Queen’s Park in that same year, and to the gates of Nestlé’s bottling plant in Aberfoyle in subsequent years.

Foodstock

Wellington Water Watchers joins with Food and Water First and Canadian Chefs Congress at Foodstock to protest a proposed mega-quarry in Melanchton, Ontario, that would destroy productive farmland and threaten source water at the headwaters of the Grand River system. A galvanizing event in the months-long effort to oppose the proposed quarry, some 20,000 people attend Foodstock despite frigid October rain. The proponents of the quarry rescind their application and the quarry is stopped. Foodstock inspires Waterstock in 2017.

Nestlé Receives Permit Renewal then Appeals Permit Conditions

Nestlé applies for the renewal of a permit to pump up to 1.1 million litres per day from their well in Hillsburgh in the Town of Erin, Ontario, for bottling in Aberfoyle. Local residents pack the municipal town hall to overflowing to show opposition to the permit renewal. Erin Town Council passes a unanimous resolution expressing opposition to the permit renewal.

Despite local opposition, Nestlé receives permit renewal for five years (September 28). The permit stipulates that Nestlé must reduce its water-taking during drought, but also provides for a “spike rate” to enable Nestlé to surpass its normal daily limit once drought subsides. Less than two weeks later, Nestlé appeals the permit on the grounds that mandatory drought reductions depart with the past practice of voluntary drought reductions and is therefore unfair to Nestlé (October 11).

RiverFest Gets Rid of Bottled Water

With the cash and volunteer support of Wellington Water Watchers, RiverFest Elora rents a Quenchbuggy and provides municipal water to festival goers, vendors and artists for free. Organizers estimate conservatively that the move eliminates some 20,000 plastic bottles from the waste bin each year.

Wellington Water Watchers, with Council of Canadians and EcoJustice, challenge Nestlé in an environmental review tribunal to maintain mandatory water-taking reductions during drought, and win. The appeal decision sets the tone for changes to the permitting system enacted in 2017.

The appeal attracts local and national news coverage. Nestlé presents in the media as a leader in water conservation and a victim of unfair treatment, as local criticism of Nestlé's actions grows.

Nestlé cuts their losses and withdraws their appeal. Activist and environmental lawyers declare victory. By the end of 2017, mandatory drought reductions are standard for all permits to take water for bottling.

Nestlé Looks to Expand

Nestlé starts exploring the possibility of expanding water-taking by buying the Middlebrook Well near Elora, Ontario. Residents of Elora hear about Nestlé’s plans and get organized, first as Friends of Elora Water and then later as Save Our Water.

Nestlé makes an offer on the purchase of the Middlebrook Well. The purchase is conditional upon the results of a pump test, which requires a permit from the Province. In October, Nestlé applies for the permit.

Permit Process Stalls

Save Our Water, with the support of Wellington Water Watchers, submits technical positions on the permit application and organizes numerous interventions during the public comment period accompanying the permit applications process, rallies opposition in the community, and politicizes the issue by encouraging people to contact the Premier and the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change directly. The permitting process stalls, and no decision is rendered on Nestlé’s application until late in the following year.

Nestlé acquires the Middlebrook Well, near Elora, despite the local Township’s interest in acquiring the well for the future water needs of its growing population. As controversy builds over this event and as prolonged drought sets in, pressure grows on the government to do something. In mid-August, Premier Kathleen Wynne starts to acknowledge the problem. By the end of the year, the Province announces a two-year moratorium on new permits to take water for bottling beginning January 1, 2017.

Nestlé Purchases Middlebrook Well

A decision on Nestlé’s pump test permit application for Middlebrook Well is still not forthcoming. Local water activists have held Nestlé off for the moment at least. A second party makes an offer to buy the Middlebrook Well, and Nestlé therefore waves its conditions and purchases the property outright.

The second party turns out to be the Township of Centre-Wellington, which, anticipating a need for the well to meet needs of its growing population, makes an unconditional bid at a higher price than Nestlé’s initial offer. The ensuing controversy draws national and international attention to Nestlé Waters’ activities in Wellington County once again. Responding to the outcry spreading through the community and elsewhere in the province, the Premier weighs in calling the permit-to-take-water system “out-dated” and in need of reform.

Nestlé applies for a permit renewal for water-taking in Aberfoyle, but the MOECC does not respond, leading Nestlé to continue pumping on an expired permit through drought. Despite Nestlé's well-publicized enactment of voluntary reductions in their water-taking rate, criticism of the permitting system grows louder and the Premier once again weighs in.

Nestlé’s permit for pumping Aberfoyle expires in middle of prolonged drought, but having duly filed an application for renewal with the MOECC, Nestlé is allowed to continue pumping and bottling on the basis of the previous permit. The permitting system has appeared to have stalled, and grassroots pressure on the provincial government to change it spikes. The Premier calls the situation “inappropriate,” and says that new rules are needed for commercial water-takers.

Permit Process Reviewed

The Premier’s mandate letter to MOECC instructs the Minister to review permit conditions for water bottlers. The Province proposes two-year moratorium on new permits or permit expansions for water taking for bottling in order to review and update regulations. The proposal gets wide-spread support from Ontarians, with more than 20,000 responses during the public comment period.

A moratorium on new permits to take water for bottling and on expanded water taking for bottling is established beginning January 1, 2017. Nestlé’s renewal applications for Aberfoyle and Hillsburgh can proceed, under new regulations once they are established, but no permit will be issued for pumping at the Middlebrook Well at least until the moratorium ends on December 31, 2018. Anticipating the moratorium proposal, Nestlé holds talks with Centre-Wellington councillors about sharing access to Middlebrook water.

Word of Nestlé’s talks with township council members triggers renewed protest in the community. Under pressure, Township Council rejects Nestlé’s offer, setting the course for a May 2018 statement opposing water-taking for bottling.

The two-year moratorium on new permits and permit expansions for water bottlers in Ontario begins. Nestlé looks for ways around it and support for future applications through municipal governments.

January 1, 2017: In response to grassroots pressure, the Province initiates a two-year moratorium on new permits and permit expansions for water bottlers in Ontario, and strengthens regulations in a number of ways:

• Fees for water-taking for bottling raised from $3.71 per million litres to $503.71 per million litres
• Public comment period on applications for permits increased from 30 days to a 60-day minimum
• Drought reductions are made mandatory on all subsequent permits for bottlers
• Notification of, and consultation with, affected Indigenous communities made mandatory (although not defined)
• Additional and more stringent scientific conditions are added to application and permitting process

Nestlé seeks support from Township Councils

Looking for a way around the moratorium, and seeking support for future applications, Nestlé approaches municipal governments in Wellington County.

January 2017: Nestlé approaches councillors in Centre-Wellington for one-on-one meetings about their water-taking plans. Individual councillors object, and controversy grows in the community as news of the proposed meetings becomes public.

April 2017: Nestlé offers to pay a ‘voluntary levy’ to the Township of Erin for water taken from the Hillsburgh Well. Amid controversy, the Town Council accepts in a 4–1 vote.

Dissatisfied, water activists dig in

Dissatisfied with regulation changes and recognizing the temporary nature of the moratorium, Wellington Water Watchers and associated groups ramp up their campaign, toward the June 2018 provincial election, calling on all parties and candidates to commit to passing policy for a complete phase-out of permits to take water for bottling in Ontario.

Water for Life Not Profit

The Water for Life Not Profit campaign (aka “Say No To Nestlé”) garners international attention, wins the support of thousands of Ontarians, and triggers policy change at the Provincial level. The campaign engages other networks and organizations, and thousands of Ontarians in calling on the Premier and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to take the following actions:

1. Deny Nestlé permits for continued water taking in Hillsburgh and Aberfoyle, and for expanding its water-taking to Middlebrook Well in Elora
2. Establish a policy and process for phasing out all water-taking permits for bottlers in Ontario over the next 10 years
3. Respect to duty to consult with Indigenous communities on water-taking permits
4. Ensure public ownership and control over water in Ontario

Waterstock

As part of the Water for Life Not Profit campaign (see campaign overview), more than 3,000 people gather at the Erin, Ontario, fairgrounds to eat fine food, enjoy some music, to “#SayNoToNestlé”, and to press for a phase-out of permits to take water for for-profit bottling in Ontario.

Fall-Winter 2017

Water activists keep the pressure on with petitions, rallies and continued letter-writing to the Premier and Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Water Watchers rallies to make permits to take water an election issue. The Progessive Conservatives win a majority government. Wellington Water Watchers finds common cause with Six Nations’ water protectors.

Mainstreet Research Poll

Mainstreet Research poll finds that 64% of Ontarians, across political party lines, support phasing out permits for for-profit bottlers in 10 years. 57% support a 2-year phase out.

Water Watchers and SumOfUs rally outside of Queen’s Park and deliver a petition with more than 110,000 signatures from Ontarians demanding a phase-out of permits for water bottlers.

Mayor and Council of Centre-Wellington unanimously pass a motion declaring that the township is “not a willing host to any new commercial water bottling operation or the taking of water for that purpose under any circumstances.” Centre Wellington issues a press release asking the Province to extend the moratorium on permits for water bottlers, due to end January 1, 2019, to 2023.

Newly elected Progressive Conservative government extends the moratorium

Government changes in Ontario, raising new questions about the direction the government will take on water bottling. Water Watchers and associated groups dig in, and the battle continues; but the timeline ends here (at least for now!)

Ford Conservatives come to power with a majority government. To the surprise of water activists, they extend the moratorium for twelve months until January 1, 2020, ostensibly in order to develop a better understanding of provincial water resources and relevant pre-existing regulations.

This would be the first of three moratorium extensions made by the Ford government, with the last one ending March 30th, 2021 (December 2019 extension; August 2020 extension).

Meanwhile, pumping continues at the Nestlé wells in Aberfoyle and Hillsburgh, but no applications will be accepted for pumping at the newly-acquired Middlebrook Well in Centre Wellington Township.

Indigenous solidarity: Collaboration with 6N youth

Water Watchers invites Indigenous rights activist Erin Wyse to address a packed room at Water Watchers’s annual general meeting (held at the Red Papaya in downtown Guelph).

Water Watchers joins forces with Erin Wyse and Haudonesaunne youth for a rally at Nestlé headquarters in Aberfoyle – the first of many collaborations of this kind.

Cease and Desist

Haudenosaunee activist Makasa Looking Horse, accompanied by Clan Mothers, and other community leaders deliver a cease and desist order to Nestlé Waters Canada from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, demanding an end to water taking for bottling. Guelph Labour Council, with support of Water Watchers and the Council of Canadians, organize a demonstration to support the delivery of the order. Nestlé receives the order, but makes no comment.

International Partnerships

Brazil

Through contacts of Switzerland-based Brazilian water activist Franklin Frederick, Water Watchers board member Tamanna Kohi meets with community leaders in Cambuquira, Brazil. Tamanna’s visit provides direct communication between Water Watchers and community water protection activists in Brazil.

Vittel, France

Also at the invitation of Franklin Frederick, Water Watchers board and staff members meet with activists in Switzerland and visit Vevey—home to Nestlé’s international headquarters ― and then join an international delegation hosted by Collectif Eau 88 in Vittel, France, to build relationships and exchange experiences with Nestlé Waters.

All Eyes on Nestlé

Water Watchers hosts “All Eyes on Nestlé” tour with events in Waterloo, Toronto, Hamilton, and Guelph. This event focuses on Nestlé’s water extractions in communities around the world, featuring Franklin Frederick (Brazil/Switzerland), Bernhard and Renée-Lise Schmitt (Collectif Eau 88, Vittel, France), Nicki and Luke Sekera (Community Water Justice, Maine), Gina Luster (Flint Rising, Michigan), Peggy Case (Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation), Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson (Our Santa Fe River, Inc., Florida) and Miranda Fox (Story of Stuff).

“All Eyes on Nestlé” lays the foundation for the international Nestlé’s Troubled Waters network/campaign.

Moratorium Extended

December 2019 - Moratorium on permits to take water in Ontario is extended for nine months until October 1, 2020.

March 2020: COVID-19 Emergency Declared

COVID-19 pandemic and related public safety measures disrupt everything, including campaign plans and activities. After a short pause, Water Watchers adjusts its tactics and invests in digital tools and approaches in order to continue its organizing and advocacy efforts.

Nestlé seeks buyer for it’s North America water bottling properties and operations

July 2020 - Nestlé attempts to sell Nestlé Pure Life bottled water company to Ice River Springs. Water Watchers and others raise alarm. Ultimately, this attempted sale was not completed due to concern raised by the federal Competition Bureau’s regulatory approval process.

Moratorium Extended Again

August 2020 - Citing a need for more time to “thoroughly consider the feedback we received and further engage on how we can implement our proposed enhancements to Ontario’s water taking program”, the Province extends the moratorium on new water bottling permits for a third time until April 1, 2021. Proposed “enhancements” draw criticism from activists.

Launch of “Peoples’ Water Campaign”

Seeking to bring people together towards connecting the dots between local water issues and social justice, Water Watchers launches the “Peoples’ Water Campaign.”

Watershed 2020

As a culminating event of the first year of the Peoples’ Water Campaign, Water Watchers hosts “Watershed 2020: Towards a Water Justice Agenda,” an online summit of water advocates from around the province.

Moratorium Ends

Local groups and activists have mixed reactions to the end of the multi-year moratorium. There’s disappointment that the government has allowed bottling to once again be used for profit and disappointment with the “updates” made to the regulatory process, but there is also hope from the victories environmentalists have secured throughout the past years of advocacy.

On the one hand, the establishment of a new requirement that applications for water-taking permits for bottling must have the expressed support of the host municipal Council is seen by activists as an important victory. With this new rule, for instance, the Township of Centre Wellington can prevent Blue Triton from ever taking water for bottling from the controversial Middlebrook well. On the other hand, this provision only applies to water-taking above a new 379,000 litre/day threshold, and more importantly, no similar powers are recognized for affected Indigenous communities or nations.

Nonetheless, activism has forced the Ontario government to take a closer look at the bottling industry, conducting numerous studies on groundwater and water policy and imposing some positive – if mostly inconsequential – science-based regulations. In the short term, the water bottling industry may continue to thrive, but the activism is growing stronger, it’s having an impact and it is not going away.

Blue Triton Buys Nestlé Waters

March 2021 - With talk of the sale of Nestlé Waters’ North American properties, an international “Troubled Waters Coalition” convenes, including Water Watchers, to share analyses and to consolidate their demands to end corporate water bottling, resist water privatization, and seek water justice for communities affected by Nestlé and beyond.

March 2021 - Nestlé officially sells its water botting organization to One Rock Capital Partners and Metropoulos Co. for $4.3 billion. The brand later takes on the name Blue Triton.

Peoples’ Water Campaign

Ear to the Groundwater Walking Tour (June-August) - Water Watchers kicks off a series of walks designed to bring attention to a variety of local water issues and to highlight the connections among the. Led by Shane Phillips, the first walks focus on groundwater taking for bottling at the controversial wells in Aberfoyle, Centre-Wellington, and Hillsburgh. Subsequent walks target groundwater contamination, water risks and impacts of aggregates extraction, etc.

Watershed 2021 - Water Watchers hosts the second annual Watershed summit designed to centre Indigenous experiences and to explore intersections among water and social justice issues. Among other things, the summit includes presentations on bottled water by Michael O’Heany (Story of Stuff) and Makasa Looking Horse (Six Nations), and an international panel on “Resisting Bottled Water” featuring Indigenous activists fighting water bottling in Mexico along with activist leaders from Switzerland and France.

Cease and Desist

September 2021 - Water Watchers organize a rally to support the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in delivering a Cease and Desist order to Blue Triton. The message from the Confederacy informs Blue Triton that it is illegally taking water from their lands while many on the Six Nations reserve go without access to clean water. No one from Blue Triton is available to meet the delegation and accept their letter.

Pumping and bottling continues

November 2021 - Despite activists’ demands to treat the new company’s applications as new permit applications rather than permit renewals, Blue Triton receives permit renewals for water taking in Hillsburgh, Town of Erin (1,113,000 litres a day), and Aberfoyle, Township of Puslinch (3,600,000 litres per day) for a period of five years ending November 15, 2026.

With the new regulations requiring municipal consent for new permit applications, no application is filed for water taking at the Middlebrook Well in Centre Wellington Township.