Groups Rally to Stop Nestlé's Raid on Sacramento Water

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Dan Bacher, AlterNet

Sacramento councilmember Kevin McCarty again raised the issue of the plan by Nestlé to build a new bottling plant in South Sacramento at last Tuesday night's Sacramento City Council meeting as grassroots community activists mobilized against the internationally boycotted corporation coming to the Capital City.

McCarty asked for the issue to be agendized for a future city council meeting so that an "urgency ordinance" can be passed, according to Save Our Water in Sacramento, the grassroots group fighting against Nestlé's plan to come to Sacramento after being kicked out of McCloud by massive local resistance.

"Councilmember McCarty will be asking the council to pass an urgency ordinance that would require a special permit for water bottling facilities in the city," said Evan Tucker, an activist with Save Our Water. "This would require this type of project to come before the city council and be subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act."

"We are excited about this development, but concerned about the timeline," Tucker stated. "If the council does not agendize this issue soon, it could be too late for the new law to affect Nestle. We want to make sure the ordinance would affect Nestle, not just bottling plants in the future."

Vice Mayor Lauren Hammond also said she was concerned about water bottling in this city and wanted this issue addressed by the council, noted Tucker. However, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson supports the proposal by Nestlé to open up the plant, claiming it would bring "jobs" to Sacramento.

Nestlé claims the Sacramento plant would be a "micro-bottling plant," bottling only 50 million gallons of water per year. However, according to the Department of Utilities, the estimated water usage is 215 thousand – 320 thousand gallons of water per day (78 – 116 millions per year). "This would make Nestlé one of the top ten water users in Sacramento at a time when we are in our third consecutive year of a drought," emphasized Tucker.

At a time when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senator Dianne Feinstein and California Legislators are campaigning for a peripheral canal to steal more water from the Sacramento River to supply unsustainable corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and unsustainable development in southern California, we don't need a huge corporation such as Nestlé making immense profits off a public trust resource, Sacramento's water supply!

Human rights activists and breast feeding advocates from throughout the world have boycotted the Swiss-based Nestlé Corporation since 1977 because of the millions of deaths of infants it has caused over the decades. The boycott, coordinated by groups including Baby Milk Action, International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) , Infant Feeding Action Coalition (INFACT) and Save the Children, was prompted by concern about the company's marketing of breast milk substitutes (infant formula), particularly in less economically developed countries, which campaigners claim contributes to the unnecessary death and suffering of babies, largely among the poor.

"Nestlé is targeted with the boycott because monitoring conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds it to be responsible for more violations of the World Health Assembly marketing requirements for baby foods than any other company," according to Baby Milk Action.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed. Where water is unsafe, a bottle-fed child is up to 25 times more likely to die as a result of diarrhea than a breastfed child. "Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued," according to UNICEF.

Anti-Nestlé organizations are sponsoring this year's Nestlé-Free Week from October 26 to November 1 in an effort to raise the profile of the boycott.

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For more information, go to http://www.SaveOurWaterSacramento.orghttp:...acramento_water

[dalegg 143]

"Nestlé is targeted with the boycott because monitoring conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds it to be responsible for more violations of the World Health Assembly marketing requirements for baby foods than any other company," according to Baby Milk Action.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed. Where water is unsafe, a bottle-fed child is up to 25 times more likely to die as a result of diarrhea than a breastfed child. "Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued," according to UNICEF.

Anti-Nestlé organizations are sponsoring this year's Nestlé-Free Week from October 26 to November 1 in an effort to raise the profile of the boycott.

nothin better than Nestlé mixed with Breast Milk. mmm, mmm.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Steve and his loons are out there again:

SACRAMENTO, CA — City lawmakers here are reacting to community opposition to Nestlé Waters North America’s plan to set up a water bottling facility in Sacramento, The Sacramento Bee reported October 15.

Sacramento City Council members have called for a council discussion on the issue of whether an emergency ordinance should be written to require special permits for water bottling facilities. Councilman Kevin McCarty also has asked the city’s Utilities Department to explore a system of tiered water rates for commercial facilities. McCarty’s district includes the Nestlé Waters’ project site, which already is zoned for industrial use.

In September, the company withdrew its controversial plan to build a 350,000-square-foot water-bottling facility at the base of Mount Shasta near McCloud, CA, about 200 miles north of Sacramento, as WaterTech Online® reported. Nestlé Waters President and CEO Kim E. Jeffery said the Mount Shasta site was no longer needed because the company had acquired a site in Sacramento for a water bottling facility that would produce its Pure Life and Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water brands.

Now Nestlé Waters is again facing opposition, with members of the Sacramento community voicing concern over the company’s plan to draw about 80 million gallons of water a year, or 0.2 percent of the city’s total consumption.

http://www.watertechonline.com/news.asp?N_ID=72780

I like the most popular comment made to the original Oct 15th article in the Sac Bee:

I don't see a problem with the proposed Nestlé water consumption. As another reader has pointed out, the City believes there is plenty of water for new developments and to share with other public entities. Therefore there also is enough to sell to Nestlé. Sacramento should be proud its water is deemed fine enough to resell as bottled water. It is proposed that Sacramento water replace what would have been spring water had the plant located elsewhere. If the Council tries to stop this project (like it stopped WalMart from locating in, and saving, Downtown Plaza) it will be another example of its anti-business policies. This Council doesn't have a clue as to what is good for the community or for quality of life. Except for favoring development contractors and construction labor unions, it has no real and coherent policy objectives or direction.

-- MaunaKea

http://www.sacbee.com/sacramento/story/2254895.html

[Heracles 417]

Bottling water in CA. That's as dumb as bottling water in Saudi Arabia or Australia.

Such a plant should only be approved if the water is sourced from a desal plant.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Booyah!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Bottling water in CA. That's as dumb as bottling water in Saudi Arabia or Australia.

It costs more than gasoline.