Nestlé Abuses in Mecosta County, MI

Seven years ago, Terry Swier sat down with her neighbors at a local elementary school to discuss a proposed Nestlé water bottling plant. She could not have imagined then that seven years later she would be testifying before Congress about Nestlé’s abuses.

In 1998, Swier moved from Flint, Michigan to Mecosta County where her family had owned land for three generations. Mecosta was a break from city life – full of cold water trout streams and pristine lakes that attract outdoor enthusiasts from across the Great Lakes Region.

But the situation Swier found on her return was not so sanguine. Nestlé planned to pump more than 210 million gallons of water a year from a nearby protected area. The water would then be shipped outside of the Great Lakes Basin, under the brand name Ice Mountain. Nestlé maintained there would be no adverse impacts on the local watershed, but community residents like Swier were skeptical.

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.

Though stretched thin, the MCWC has carried on their struggle to put water resources back under local control. Their work even helped propel this issue into the halls of Congress.

“We’ve struggled for years to protect the waters of Mecosta County from corporate exploitation,” said Swier. “The fact that Congress is taking up this issue demonstrates that Nestlé’s bottling activities are taking a huge toll on communities across the country.”

In December, Swier testified before a hearing chaired by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). At issue was the effect of water bottling facilities on the environment and water supply in communities across the country.

At the hearing, Rep. Kucinich pressed Nestlé executives on the integrity of their scientific process in assessing groundwater supplies.

“This hearing represents a watershed moment, excuse the pun, in the growing movement to challenge the bottled water industry and the corporate control of our local water resources,” said Mark Hays, senior researcher for Corporate Accountability International.

Swier says that she hopes congressional action doesn’t stop here for communities working to protect their watersheds.

“We want to ensure that other communities have the tools they need to stand up to Nestlé in order to defend their water for current and future generations,” she said.