Local Water Warriors Strive to Have International Impact

 

For Immediate Release: February 25, 2011

 

Contact: John Stewart, 857-413-6261, JStewart@StopCorporateAbuse.org

 

Boston, MA – Today in the Massachusetts’ state capitol, community activists from Maine and Michigan who have challenged bottled water giant Nestlé’s efforts to control local water resources in their hometowns are sharing their stories of struggle and victory with the first ever UN-appointed expert on the right to water on a diplomatic mission to the United States.  

Terry Swier, president of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, Shelly Gobeille, Chair of Protect Our Water and Wildlife Resources (POWWR) of Maine and representatives from Corporate Accountability International are meeting with Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on the Rights to Water and Sanitation, at the Massachusetts State House today, and calling on the UN and other government officials to protect people’s right to water from interference by water corporations.

 

“We’re asking the Independent Expert to take a serious look at the threats to the human right to water posed by water bottling operations here in the U.S.  We’re also asking her to include the experiences and recommendations of communities impacted by bottlers in her final report. Overall, we are working to ensure that the Independent Expert continues to make strong recommendations to governments that they enact safeguards to prevent violations of the human right to water by corporations,” said Terry Swier, President of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation.  

 

The Independent Expert is in the U.S. this week conducting a diplomatic mission, to identify best practices that help protect people’s right to water and investigate challenges, gaps or violations in the right to water and make recommendations on how to address these problems. 

 

“At a time when we are facing a global water crisis where two in three people may soon go thirsty, water bottlers like Nestlé continue to undermine the human right to water by attempting to manipulate and strong-arm communities into handing over their water rights – often after strong objections from these communities at large,” said Mark Hays, with Corporate Accountability International.  Swier, Gobeille and Corporate Accountability International are drawing particular attention to Nestlé, which has drawn concern from communities across North America and in other regions of the world for disregarding communities’ concerns about its extraction of local spring and groundwater for bottling.

 

“I believe that our stories about what happened in Mecosta County, Michigan and Shapleigh and Newfield, Maine will help move the UN to take immediate action to secure the human right to water and prevent profiteers from abusing more communities like ours around the world,” said Shelly Gobeille, Chair of the Shapleigh/Newfield, Maine based group, Protect Our Water and Wildlife Resources.

“Today we are making sure that the record of Nestlé’s underhanded tactics and aggressive efforts to gain control of water resources doesn’t go unchallenged.”

 

 

Terry Swier - President, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) -  Ten years ago, Terry and her neighbors discovered that water pumping from a well owned by Nestlé was having negative impacts on a cold water trout stream and two pristine lakes in their region.  When local officials failed to respond to residents’ concerns, Swier and others formed the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) and took their grievances to court. In 2003, the County Circuit Court ruled in their favor – that Nestlé’s actions were likely to narrow streams, expose mud flats and reduce flow levels. Pumping was ordered to a halt.  This didn’t stop Nestlé, which appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Michigan, ultimately arguing that MCWC and other citizen groups had no right to sue to protect local water resources.  After a costly ten-year legal struggle, MCWC prevailed, winning a settlement that forced Nestlé to reduce its pumping by 50%.

 

Shelly Gobeille, Chair, Protect our Water and Wildlife Resources (POWWR) - In 2008, Shelly Gobielle and her neighbors learned Nestlé had plans to set up a well for its water bottling operations in their area. They also learned that Nestlé had drilled 23 test wells in a nearby local wildlife preserve years before without informing local residents.  Shelly and her neighbors approached town officials with their concerns about what bottling would do to the local ecosystem. However, their words fell on deaf ears, as Nestlé had already lobbied for and secured the support of several Shapleigh town officials.  Taking matters into their own hands, Shelly and others formed the group Protect Our Water and Wildlife Resources (POWWR). Members hit the streets and went door to door, educating the public and signing enough petitions to call a town meeting, pass an ordinance that asserted the right of townspeople to control their own water and to prohibit commercial water extraction, and forced Nestlé to remove its test wells.   Shelly and other members of POWWR are now helping other communities Maine find ways to protect their local water resources.  

 

Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) is a membership organization that has, for the last 33 years, successfully advanced campaigns protecting health, the environment and human rights. Through its Campaign Challenging Corporate Control of Water, Corporate Accountability International is playing a leadership role in the global movement to secure the human right to water, and people’s access to water; prevent corporate control of water; preserve and protect water resources and systems for the public good; and preserve water resources as an ecological trust.