Washington state takes bold step to restrict companies from bottling local water

Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by ngt_

Washington has taken a major step toward becoming the first US state to restrict companies looking to extract, bottle and sell local water supplies.

On Monday night the state senate passed a bill that would ban new permits for water bottling operations. SB 6278 states “any use of water for the commercial production of bottled water is deemed to be detrimental to the public welfare and the public interest” and would apply retroactively to new permits filed after 1 January 2019.

The move was hailed by water campaigners, who declared it a breakthrough moment in the fight against the privatization of such a valuable public asset.

“Washington State is carving the path towards a groundbreaking solution,” said Mary Grant, the director of Food & Water Action’s public water for all campaign, in a statement. “This legislation … would ban one of the worst corporate water abuses – the extraction of local water supplies in plastic bottles shipped out of watersheds and around the country.”

Bottled water is the most popular packaged beverage in America by volume. But in the places where that water is sourced, the industry has enjoyed far less approval. Residents of Lewis county, in the watershed at the base of Mt St Helens in southwest Washington, have been fighting a new Crystal Geyser bottling plant that would pump and package 400 gallons a minute. SB 6278 would scuttle the company’s plans.

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

A proposed Crystal Geyser bottling plant near Mt Shasta in northern California has also been subject to intense opposition, but a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the project last October. Nestle’s water extraction operations in the San Bernadino national forest in southern California continue with the approval of the US Forest Service, despite public criticism and a state report that found the company was pumping more than was allowed.

In January, Crystal Geyser pleaded guilty to illegally storing toxin-laden wastewater in an “arsenic pond” in eastern California, and delivering the water to treatment plants without disclosing its hazards. The company is expected to be ordered to pay a $5m fine at a 24 February sentencing hearing.

Arsenic is a poisonous heavy metal that naturally occurs in much of California’s soil and often makes its way into pumped groundwater. In 2019, studies by the Center for Environmental Health and Consumer Reports found elevated arsenic levels in several bottled water brands.

Other states are also looking to limit or tax commercial water bottling operations, with state bills introduced in Maine and Michigan and local ballot measures passed in Oregon and Montana.

leshpar on February 20th, 2020 at 15:47 UTC »

I live in Lewis county of Washington state. We have absolutely amazing natural ground water. Over the last year and a half, roughly, we've faced the prospect of a commercial company coming in and bottling it. Our natural resources are great and fine for the few thousand people who live in this rural area, but our resources are not so vast as to be able to support such a commercial endeavour and there are also threats of contamination by these people. Most of us, myself included, protested this and we successfully got this bill passed and the water bottling company removed.

This company is called crystal geyser.

I highly recommend anyone passing through to taste our water. It's the best in the United States as far as I am concerned, but it will NEVER be commercially available.

phoenixsuperman on February 20th, 2020 at 13:31 UTC »

A lot of people here are really caught up on the bottled water part, and overlooking the real intent of the law. It's not specifically about the bottles of water, it's about selling the rights to our water sources to corporations. It's batshit how many people here want corporations to own their local water source, for God's sake. I think you might have a constitutional issue trying to ban the sale of land to corporations, but if bottling water is illegal, they won't have reason to buy it.

This place is meant to be about the future; does no one understand the importance of water as a strategic resource? And how important maintaining public control of that resource will be as companies like these continues to fuck the environment sideways? When companies like Nestlé have poisoned the water and heated the planet until lakes start to dry up, are you going to cheer them on as they sell you the only clean water left for 3 bucks a liter?

It's no wonder it's difficult to convince Americans that Healthcare is a basic human right when you can't convince them they have a right to WATER!

swamprott on February 20th, 2020 at 13:20 UTC »

im old enough to remember when bottled water really become mainstream. To this day my mentality remains, "why would you buy bottled water?"

Granted i use a filter on the tap now, but back then i was drinking just regular tap water. Its the exact same thing they're bottling and selling.

edit: im also old enough to understand there are exceptions to be made, because of unsafe water supplies. Im also being typically american and not considering other countries. I guess my statement is more a blanket statement for most Americans. In most places in North America you can drink tap water without consequence. Adding a filter will likely get you better water than that being commercailly bottled and sold for profit.