OTHER RESOURCES

03.19.04 

by Beth Anne Piehl
Petoskey News-Review

The Nestle Waters company has scouted out some of Emmet County's plentiful spring water sources to potentially help feed its Mecosta County plant, where Ice Mountain bottled water is packaged, according to a company spokeswoman.

But there aren't plans to pursue any local sites at this time as additional water sources.

The Stanwood bottling plant made news when it was ordered shut down by a judge late last fall, after concerns about impacts of pumping on local lake and stream levels were raised by local residents.

However, an appeals court shortly after granted the company a stay of the order, allowing it to continue operating until the appeals process is completed, which could take several years.

While the issue is on hold with the court, officials with Ice Mountain, formerly part of The Perrier Group, have moved ahead looking for backup water sources for its operations.

And they're looking here for the first time since Ice Mountain opened about four years ago.

"It's a natural area (to look). First of all, the sites the company is looking at are primarily on the west side of the state and up into the north part of the state, and that's for a very common-sense reason," said Debbie Muchmore, a Nestle spokeswoman in Lansing. "It's those parts of the state that generally have very high-quality, good-tasting water."

She said one site in Alanson, owned by Doug Houseworth, was evaluated and is no longer considered a viable option. She said a second site further north, owned by the Poquette family, was also evaluated and also won't be pursued.

In both cases, Muchmore said the property owners contacted Nestle first.

"Nestle Waters is looking at a variety of sites all across the state, but any one of these that you might hear about isn't necessarily a high-priority site," Muchmore said. "As the demand for Ice Mountain grows in the Midwest, the company has the need for additional water sources, because we certainly don't want to overuse any one source."

The Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, a Petoskey environmental group focused on water preservation issues, has brought its concerns to the table over the issue of tapping and selling spring water. In the face of continued pressures on the state's water, the group is calling for tougher regulations on water withdrawals; currently, there aren't any.

The Tip of Mitt outlined its own concerns of each local site and has expressed them to Nestle.

"It is important to note that what Nestle (and the property owners) have done is perfectly legal under the existing regulatory framework. It is not illegal to look for a source of water, nor to get a permit for one," said Wil Cwikiel, program director with the Tip of the Mitt.

For Tip of the Mitt, this is a wake-up call, Cwikiel said.

"This situation provides an example of the lack of regulatory framework to address water withdrawals in the state and underscores the need to develop a comprehensive ground water withdrawal regulatory framework," he said.
 

A property owner's perspective

Houseworth, of Houseworth Realty in Alanson, has been working since 2000 to secure a bottled water operation at his property, where a well and permits are now in place that would allow for the site to be used as a source. Possibilities would include either a bottling facility, for which he would need local government approval, or using springs there to fill tanker-trucks with water for shipment to a bottling company.

Contacted Thursday, Houseworth also said it's a dead deal with Nestle.

"The Tip of the Mitt is the reason discussions have ended," Houseworth said. "My permit with the DEQ and my zoning are all within compliance with local government. That I would have to deal with forces extraneous to local government that are so powerful is frightening."

He said he understands the mission of the Tip of the Mitt, but it doesn't make it easier to swallow opposition to his efforts.

"I understand their stewardship over the waters of Northern Michigan, but their fears of losing our water supply are not realistic," Houseworth said. "I'm a supporter of the Tip of the Mitt, but for them to essentially kill any opportunity I've got here is more than unfair."

To Cwikiel and the Tip of the Mitt conservationists, however, the issue of selling off a natural resource - water - is one that needs to be addressed with legislative regulations now, before water quantity and quality are further damaged by the accumulation of unregulated withdrawals.

And, Cwikiel said while individual property rights are important, there are a number of things homeowners cannot do that adversely impact their neighbors and communities. For instance, a homeowner cannot legally fill in a wetland on his or her property; and water reduction from one river source can impact downstream neighbors.

"Water drives our economy in Michigan," Cwikiel said. "So when we start taking water out of the system and putting it in bottles, or using it for manufacturing or somehow taking it out of that system, we have the potential to do damage to that system.

"Activities that withdraw water need to be reviewed for their impacts. It's as simple as that."
 

Selling spring water

Houseworth certainly isn't alone in owning property that includes a clean, clear - and profitable - water source. And it's big business: Last year, the bottled water industry did $7.7 billion in sales in the U.S., according to Ice Mountain data.

The Realtor has property along U.S. 31 about 1/2 mile north of the M-68 intersection. The Poquette property is about one mile north of Houseworth's site, also off U.S. 31; family members declined to comment.

Houseworth said it's too premature to discuss what might happen next, though he intends to go forth with some type of bottled water operation once securing proper approvals from the village of Alanson.

"I am licensed through the DEQ for an approved well for bottled water. I do have plans for moving ahead with a business plan," Houseworth said.

The process of selling water involves quality tests and type-two well approval from the local health department (the Northwest Michigan Community Health Agency), and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Michigan Department of Agriculture approvals related to water quality.

Houseworth said his system would pump 50 gallons a minute - small in comparison to big operations which can pump hundreds of gallons a minute.

"We can't afford to get involved with the big boys," he said. "We feel there's a market for five-gallon containers with customers on city water who don't like the taste. Our goal here is strictly local sales."

He added, "I don't see any of this happening for a while."
 

Why the Tip of the Mitt's involved

The watershed council has looked at each site and raised several concerns from each, including reduction in water quantity to the Crooked River.

For the Houseworth site, Cwikiel also said springs and wells are located approximately 100 feet from U.S. 31 and 75 feet from a sanitary sewer. A main concern would be possible contamination of the shallow water aquifer by adjacent land uses. At the Poquette site, potential for reduction in water quantity could potentially impact fish life and wetlands associated with White's Creek, he said.

Cwikiel's concerns stem from the group's missions to "be the voice for water resources in Northern Michigan" and to push for tougher regulations - such as the Water Legacy Act recently introduced in the state Legislature - to protect water resources.

"This situation reveals a gaping hole in Michigan's water resource laws," Cwikiel said. "Currently, water withdrawal across Michigan is being done without any foresight.

"Water is a public resource, and the public must be involved in schemes that would remove that resource from the public trust, be it for use as bottled water, soft drink bottling, agriculture or manufacturing."