WATER WARS 2016
Water wars have recently come to the Hartford area. In a scenario played out across the country- from California to Florida to Michigan to Maine, for-profit water bottlers have quietly partnered with economic developers to reap profits off municipal water systems and community aquifers. Once water utilities grant the bottlers permits, they have unfettered access to large quantities of water, drought or no drought, community approval or not. Usually these “water rights” have no expiration date, are immune from reversal and can supersede those of local landowners. Aquifers and streams can be sucked dry as water bottlers ship local water out of state.
Niagara Bottling, the largest “family-owned” water bottling company in the country, and second only to Nestle in sales, has recently come knocking on CT’s door. Seeking a northeastern hub for its water export business, Niagara aims to add to the 19 plants it owns across the US. Having been recently driven from Kingston NY by citizens alarmed at its attempt to control 25% of their water capacity, Niagara is hoping to find a home in Bloomfield, CT. It needs cheap and plentiful water while Bloomfield has been lured by the promise of jobs and an increased tax base.
What is proposed? Access to 1.8 million gallons of MDC (Metropolitan District Commission) water/day, in addition to water brought in by tanker trucks from undisclosed springs throughout the state. A highly mechanized robotic factory with up to 4 bottling lines, operating non-stop 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 363 days/year; each line capable of churning out 110,000 single-use plastic water bottles an hour (or 2.6 million per line/per day). Thirty-eight to 75 mostly low wage shift jobs with seasonal fluctuation. A new $8million MDC bond to finance extension of a water main to carry extra water to the Woodland Avenue area. Up to 200 large diesel trucks/day heading out to the highways of the northeast.
How did this happen? Disturbingly, and in a recurrent pattern, the hasty approval process for Niagara lacked transparency and citizen input. Developers applied for wetlands and zoning permits in third party names, never mentioning “Niagara”. A $4.1M tax abatement was presented and voted upon the same night, without public input, by a town council eager to approve. That same day, in MDC boardrooms, ordinances were changed to provide “large industrial super-users” both a water and sewer rate discount worth up to $1.9M.
What’s wrong with this picture? A CT state water plan is even now being drawn up to make balanced decisions over where our waters should be allocated and how they should be protected. Due out in Jan, 2017, it challenges the concept that regional water utilities can autonomously control public water . MDC capacity numbers- the amount of water we theoretically have to use, hold or sell- have not been updated in decades. Climate change makes these figures even more uncertain. And hydrologic source data is currently being withheld from public view as part of classified Homeland Security data. The CT State Drought Plan, drawn up in 2003, does not prioritize the public over private industry. All are treated equally. In a true Drought Emergency with 50 days or less of water available, the DPH (Dept of Public Health) can mandate 25% water restrictions on residents, but trucks can still be rolling out of CT with bottled water headed north. While ordinary citizens do their best to conserve water, this mega-user will instead be incentivized by lower rates to use more.
Meanwhile, at least sixty per cent of the billions of plastic water bottles manufactured in Bloomfield will never find their way to a recycling center. They will litter landfills, beaches and oceans. By 2050, our oceans will contain more plastic than fish, and each plastic bottle will live on for 450 years. As we’ve seen in Flint Michigan, or in disaster zones, bottled water is sometimes necessary. But the vast majority of bottled water is simply repackaged tap water, with an exponentially higher price tag. Re-usable water bottles, free of dangerous BPA or other chemicals which can leach into stored water, provide an economical and environmental alternative.
What’s next in this citizen struggle? Ststewide, citizens have banded together to block the Niagara plant. Follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/saveourwaterct/ . Speak out in your MDC-served community (Hartford, West Hartford, Wethersfield, Windsor, Newington, Bloomfield, Rocky Hill, and portions of East Granby, Farmington, Glastonbury, and South Windsor). It’s your water too. Support upcoming state legislation to remove water and clean water project discounts for large water bottlers, to enact a permitting requirement for them, to insist on transparency in developers’ permit applications, and to prioritize residents in the case of water shortage. Let’s keep our water local and our environment clean.
UPDATE: In the 2016 state legislative session a water protection bill SB422, championed by Save Our Water CT, passed the State Senate with bi-partisan support but failed to come to a vote in the House. Heavy lobbying by industry and water company interests and the short legislative session, overshadowed by a looming state deficit, ultimately doomed the bill.
As of April, 2016, Niagara began building its plant at 380 Woodland St. in Bloomfied and plans to open in December. In spite of claims that many good jobs would come to Bloomfield, the latest data (12/18/2016) point to approximately four jobs to Bloomfield residents.
In early December, Save Our Water CT scored a significant victory when the MDC voted to rescind the discounts it had made specifically to attradt Niagara, although they indicated their perogative to reinstate them next year.
Save Our Water CT and other water protection advocates plan to return to the state legislature in January 2017 to enact legislation to limit the expansion of water bottling in CT. See the 5 Point Plan:
5 Point Plan for Water Security:
Save Our Water CT's 2017 Legislative Goals
1. Prohibit special discounted rates for large corporate water bottlers. Discounts for high volume users incentivize over-use, not conservation, of a limited natural resource. They support the transport of our CT water to out-of-state watersheds and the production of environmentally harmful plastic bottles.
2. Prohibit discounted rates on Clean Water Project Charges. These charges were established as a result of a consent decree between the MDC and the EPA to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act. They fund infrastructure needed to separate storm and wastewater in order to keep the CT River and L.I. Sound clean. Out of state corporations profiting off CT water should contribute fully to its cost.
3. Enact a permitting system for large water bottlers in CT. Close the loophole which currently exists and require a time-limited water diversion permit for out-of-watershed water transfers by truck.
4. Prioritize residents in a drought. Prohibit the export of bottled water out of state during a Severe Drought or a Drought Emergency.
5. Complete the state water plan before allowing any further large water capacity agreements for water bottling companies. We need to be sure that ALL of CT has enough water for its residents, agriculture, environment and business. Keep our water local.
Water wars have recently come to the Hartford area. In a scenario played out across the country- from California to Florida to Michigan to Maine, for-profit water bottlers have quietly partnered with economic developers to reap profits off municipal water systems and community aquifers. Once water utilities grant the bottlers permits, they have unfettered access to large quantities of water, drought or no drought, community approval or not. Usually these “water rights” have no expiration date, are immune from reversal and can supersede those of local landowners. Aquifers and streams can be sucked dry as water bottlers ship local water out of state.
Niagara Bottling, the largest “family-owned” water bottling company in the country, and second only to Nestle in sales, has recently come knocking on CT’s door. Seeking a northeastern hub for its water export business, Niagara aims to add to the 19 plants it owns across the US. Having been recently driven from Kingston NY by citizens alarmed at its attempt to control 25% of their water capacity, Niagara is hoping to find a home in Bloomfield, CT. It needs cheap and plentiful water while Bloomfield has been lured by the promise of jobs and an increased tax base.
What is proposed? Access to 1.8 million gallons of MDC (Metropolitan District Commission) water/day, in addition to water brought in by tanker trucks from undisclosed springs throughout the state. A highly mechanized robotic factory with up to 4 bottling lines, operating non-stop 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 363 days/year; each line capable of churning out 110,000 single-use plastic water bottles an hour (or 2.6 million per line/per day). Thirty-eight to 75 mostly low wage shift jobs with seasonal fluctuation. A new $8million MDC bond to finance extension of a water main to carry extra water to the Woodland Avenue area. Up to 200 large diesel trucks/day heading out to the highways of the northeast.
How did this happen? Disturbingly, and in a recurrent pattern, the hasty approval process for Niagara lacked transparency and citizen input. Developers applied for wetlands and zoning permits in third party names, never mentioning “Niagara”. A $4.1M tax abatement was presented and voted upon the same night, without public input, by a town council eager to approve. That same day, in MDC boardrooms, ordinances were changed to provide “large industrial super-users” both a water and sewer rate discount worth up to $1.9M.
What’s wrong with this picture? A CT state water plan is even now being drawn up to make balanced decisions over where our waters should be allocated and how they should be protected. Due out in Jan, 2017, it challenges the concept that regional water utilities can autonomously control public water . MDC capacity numbers- the amount of water we theoretically have to use, hold or sell- have not been updated in decades. Climate change makes these figures even more uncertain. And hydrologic source data is currently being withheld from public view as part of classified Homeland Security data. The CT State Drought Plan, drawn up in 2003, does not prioritize the public over private industry. All are treated equally. In a true Drought Emergency with 50 days or less of water available, the DPH (Dept of Public Health) can mandate 25% water restrictions on residents, but trucks can still be rolling out of CT with bottled water headed north. While ordinary citizens do their best to conserve water, this mega-user will instead be incentivized by lower rates to use more.
Meanwhile, at least sixty per cent of the billions of plastic water bottles manufactured in Bloomfield will never find their way to a recycling center. They will litter landfills, beaches and oceans. By 2050, our oceans will contain more plastic than fish, and each plastic bottle will live on for 450 years. As we’ve seen in Flint Michigan, or in disaster zones, bottled water is sometimes necessary. But the vast majority of bottled water is simply repackaged tap water, with an exponentially higher price tag. Re-usable water bottles, free of dangerous BPA or other chemicals which can leach into stored water, provide an economical and environmental alternative.
What’s next in this citizen struggle? Ststewide, citizens have banded together to block the Niagara plant. Follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/saveourwaterct/ . Speak out in your MDC-served community (Hartford, West Hartford, Wethersfield, Windsor, Newington, Bloomfield, Rocky Hill, and portions of East Granby, Farmington, Glastonbury, and South Windsor). It’s your water too. Support upcoming state legislation to remove water and clean water project discounts for large water bottlers, to enact a permitting requirement for them, to insist on transparency in developers’ permit applications, and to prioritize residents in the case of water shortage. Let’s keep our water local and our environment clean.
UPDATE: In the 2016 state legislative session a water protection bill SB422, championed by Save Our Water CT, passed the State Senate with bi-partisan support but failed to come to a vote in the House. Heavy lobbying by industry and water company interests and the short legislative session, overshadowed by a looming state deficit, ultimately doomed the bill.
As of April, 2016, Niagara began building its plant at 380 Woodland St. in Bloomfied and plans to open in December. In spite of claims that many good jobs would come to Bloomfield, the latest data (12/18/2016) point to approximately four jobs to Bloomfield residents.
In early December, Save Our Water CT scored a significant victory when the MDC voted to rescind the discounts it had made specifically to attradt Niagara, although they indicated their perogative to reinstate them next year.
Save Our Water CT and other water protection advocates plan to return to the state legislature in January 2017 to enact legislation to limit the expansion of water bottling in CT. See the 5 Point Plan:
5 Point Plan for Water Security:
Save Our Water CT's 2017 Legislative Goals
1. Prohibit special discounted rates for large corporate water bottlers. Discounts for high volume users incentivize over-use, not conservation, of a limited natural resource. They support the transport of our CT water to out-of-state watersheds and the production of environmentally harmful plastic bottles.
2. Prohibit discounted rates on Clean Water Project Charges. These charges were established as a result of a consent decree between the MDC and the EPA to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act. They fund infrastructure needed to separate storm and wastewater in order to keep the CT River and L.I. Sound clean. Out of state corporations profiting off CT water should contribute fully to its cost.
3. Enact a permitting system for large water bottlers in CT. Close the loophole which currently exists and require a time-limited water diversion permit for out-of-watershed water transfers by truck.
4. Prioritize residents in a drought. Prohibit the export of bottled water out of state during a Severe Drought or a Drought Emergency.
5. Complete the state water plan before allowing any further large water capacity agreements for water bottling companies. We need to be sure that ALL of CT has enough water for its residents, agriculture, environment and business. Keep our water local.
