Nestle cannot claim bottled water is 'essential public service', court rules

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Nestlé cannot claim bottled water is 'essential public service', court rules

Michigan’s second-highest court rules in favor of township in case that could damage company’s effort to privatize water

Tom Perkins in Detroit
Thu 5 Dec 2019 09.00 GMT
Last modified on Thu 5 Dec 2019 09.04 GMT

Michigan’s second-highest court has dealt a legal blow to Nestlé’s Ice Mountain water brand, ruling that the company’s commercial water-bottling operation is “not an essential public service” or a public water supply.

The court of appeals ruling is a victory for Osceola township, a small mid-Michigan town that blocked Nestlé from building a pumping station that doesn’t comply with its zoning laws. But the case could also throw a wrench in Nestlé’s attempts to privatize water around the country.

If it is to carry out such plans, then it will need to be legally recognized as a public water source that provides an essential public service. The Michigan environmental attorney Jim Olson, who did not represent Osceola township but has previously battled Nestlé in court, said any claim that the Swiss multinational is a public water utility “is ludicrous”.

“What this lays bare is the extent to which private water marketers like Nestlé, and others like them, go (in) their attempts to privatize sovereign public water, public water services, and the land and communities they impact,” Olson said.

The ruling, made on Tuesday, could also lead state environmental regulators to reconsider permits that allow Nestlé to pump water in Michigan.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/05/nestle-bottled-water-michigan-osceola-private-public

[Siwsan]

1. Isn't this the company whose CEO said that access to water is not a basic human right?

I hope they rescind that permit, too. They would gladly destroy the Great Lakes to make a profit.

[in2herbs]

2. If I remember correctly, a few years ago Nestle sought to open a water bottling plant in Phx AZ.

There were demonstrations against it but I don't remember how the Council vote turned out. I think (???) that current House Rep. Stanton (D) was mayor at the time. Have been following Nestle for years and their attempts to secure world wide water rights. What a vile company.

[Faux pas]

3. Kickin'

[IndyOp]

4. We have to get healthy water to people worldwide via pipes -

and we have to give up the FUCKING water bottles!!!

A company gets water from a municipal source, runs it through a filter - equivalent to a Brita filter you can put on your sink - pays for someone somewhere to make those bottles using fossil fuels and chemicals that will haunt us for centuries, pays to build and run all of the equipment need to put water in bottles, packs the bottles in boxes and wraps them in paper, and puts them on planes and in trucks which spew carbon into our air. Why? So that people can get in their cars and drive to a local store -- or better yet have Amazon.com mail bottled water to their home so they don't have to go to the store -- all so that they have water that they perceive to be "clean" to drink.

Insanity - all the way from the start (wherein companies that bottle water abuse natural resources, harming the environment and putting local populations of animals and people in danger) to the end... in which people who have a vague belief that bottled water is healthier drink it -or- even worse - people drink it because, in the TV commercials wealthy, sexy people drink it. No one believes that their behavior is affected by commercials that make them feel "less than" if they don't fit the images on the screen, but apparently, it works or we wouldn't be inundated by those commercials 24/7.

George Carlin used to ask his audiences when he gave live performances in big and small venues whether the local water supply was good. He believed that the answer to that question reflected whether people trusted local utilities and local, state, and the federal government - to make sure the water was safe. He said that *everywhere* he went in the '80s and '90's audiences said the water was not safe to drink. If people don't believe that their votes can appoint people who will test the water supply and do what is necessary to keep it safe and/or notify them if something happens that makes it unsafe - then a big chunk of the beating heart of democracy is dead.

[in2herbs]

5. I agree -- get rid of or dramatically reduce to use of plastic water bottles. During the summer

heat in AZ charities hand out bottled water to the homeless. Why not install more water fountains and give them their own cup? Even better strategically place ice making machines next to water fountains.

I take a bottle of water with me when I leave the house but the plastic bottle I use is re-used and is several years old. I refill with RO water and keep in the fridge for travel.