Nestle bottled water plant in the Columbia River Gorge (Oregon) - where it stands

[swag]

http://www.kgw.com/story/news/investigations/2015/07/24/will-nestle-build-a-bottled-water-plant-in-the-gorge/30599323/

"We should not be allowing state agencies to make public water available to multinational corporations that have a bad track record," she said. "Especially during water scarcity. And it's pretty clear that water scarcity is going to become the new normal."

. . .

But even if there is enough water for all, Jarvis said there are other, indirect environmental concerns, including the trucks Nestle plans to use.

"They're moving the water from the spring to the plant in trucks," he said. "So you have trucks moving the water from the spring to the plant. Then you have trucks moving the water from the plant to the grocery stores. Then you have people in the grocery stores putting it in their cars driving it home. Then the bottles go to the recycling bin to the trash and they're hauled off by trucks. There's a pretty hefty hydrocarbon footprint."

That cycle of around 200 trucks moving in and out of the plant in the summer isn't exactly the most environmentally friendly scenario. The bottles, too, are problematic. Jarvis pointed out that, instead of Nestle purchasing plastic bottles, they could make them out of recycled plastic like EartH20 does in Culver.

. . .

If Nestle builds its $50 million plant in Cascade Locks, it has promised to create up to 50 jobs that pay around $62,000 a year in wages and benefits in exchange for property tax breaks.

. . . more

http://www.kgw.com/story/news/investigations/2015/07/24/will-nestle-build-a-bottled-water-plant-in-the-gorge/30599323/

[CrispyQ]

1. Corporations profiting from the commons. How American.

Fifty jobs at $65K is 3.25 million. Not a bad deal for Nestle. And if they don't make good on their end, which they may not, it's an even better deal for them.

When did people start having to have a bottle of water with them wherever they go? I realize there are few water fountains left, but unless your tap water is undrinkable, buy a reusable container & tell Nestle & the others to fuck off. I cringe walking down the water aisle of the grocery store seeing all that plastic.

[Cleita]

2. Exactly. If anyone should be bottling that water, it's the residents of

Washington State and Oregon as a collective and to be used for their benefit to fund needed social programs for their residents. Nothing that comes from the earth in its raw form should be just given to private corporations for their exploitation.

[packman]

3. Soon it will get to bottled air, I fear

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[Tikki]

4. And too close for comfort to the piles of nuclear waste buried in leaky drums up-river in Hanford.

The Columbia River at the Gorge is beautiful but I would never drink the water.


Tikki

[marble falls]

5. Nestlé chairman says water is not a human right

Nestlé chairman says water is not a human right

In a candid interview for the documentary We Feed the World, Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck makes the astonishing claim that water isn’t a human right. He attacks the idea that nature is good, and says it is a great achievement that humans are now able to resist nature’s dominance. He attacks organic agriculture and says genetic modification is better.

Nestlé is the world’s biggest bottler of water. Brabeck claims – correctly – that water is the most important raw material in the world. However he then goes on to say that privatisation is the best way to ensure fair distribution. He claims that the idea that water is a human right comes from “extremist” NGOs. Water is a foodstuff like any other, and should have a market value.

He believes that the ultimate social responsibility of any Chairman is to make as much profit as possible, so that people will have jobs.

And just to underline what a lovely man he is, he also thinks we should all be working longer and harder.

Consequences of water privatisation

The consequences of water privatisation have been devastating on poor communities around the world. In South Africa, where the municipal workers’ union SAMWU fought a long battle against privatisation, there has been substantial research (pdf) about the effects. Water privatisation lead to a massive cholera outbreak in Durban in the year 2000.

The Nestlé boycott

Nestlé already has a very bad reputation among activists. There has been a boycott call since 1977. This is due to Nestlé’s aggressive lobbying to get women to stop breastfeeding – which is free and healthy – and use infant formula (sold by Nestlé) instead. Nestlé has lobbied governments to tell their health departments to promote formula. In poor countries, this has resulted in the deaths of babies, as women have mixed formula with contaminated water instead of breastfeeding.

Tell Nestlé they are wrong – water is a human right

There is Europe-wide campaign to tell the European Commission that water is a human right, and to ask them to enact legislation to ensure this is protected.

If you live in Europe, please sign the petition.

Original article published by Union Solidarity International.