A letter to MPP Liz Sandals copied to Guelph City Council:
Dear Ms. Sandals,
EBR registry number: 010-0224
I am writing to you to express my concern about the application by Nestle Canada Ltd. to continue pumping water in Aberfolyle.
Below are my comments that I posted on the ministry web site. I wanted you to know that I am seriously concerned about this.
Would you please state your position on this matter?
Here is my letter:
I am seriously concerned about this application and thus wish to register my opposition to its approval on these grounds:
a) that the water in the ground is part of the aquifer that supplies the city of Guelph and surrounding residents and is vital to our well being, and must be protected both in its quality and as well as quantity.
b) that In recent years this city has had to resort to water reduction schedules which I do not oppose except that at the same time as the city must conserve water, Nestle can pump freely and ship widely the same water we are restricted from using under certain circumstances due to low water table.
The absurdity of this was that I could purchase Aberfoyle Springs water in Rome, Italy, yet be restricted at the source!
c) that water is a necessity to our own and our children’s well being as citizens of this province and country, and just as I would oppose air being sucked away from us to be sold back, so too the taking of water from the ground when a community’s supply is threatened.
d) that Guelph was recently told (though presently supposedly cancelled) that we would have to be part of a pipe to Lake Erie, in who’s waters I would hesitate to bathe outside of drink, because we will face a future shortage, and yet a multinational company can pump great amounts of water, taken from the watershed and country to be consumed elsewhere.
Where is the logic in a possible approval of this application? They are not allowed to take Great Lakes Water yet they may suck it from the ground under us. What regulation can justify this?
We do our part as a family to conserve water, knowing it to be a precious resource. One big reason of many to live in this fine community has been the fact that the water was of such exceptional quality coming from the wells and aquifer that surround us. It is valuable resource that Nestle now wishes to continue exploiting at cost to the citizens who will remain long after Nestle has packed up and gone when the resource is no more. Would they be as excited to bottle Lake Erie water?
Perhaps a multinational can spend great amounts of money to defend their taking of such a valuable resource, but a government must protect its citizens who cannot afford to.
I expect the good judgment of the ministry to see that this should not be approved and have the moral fortitude to stand up to Nestle and decline the application. It is the duty of the ministry to protect this valuable resource for the present citizens and future generations. WZ