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Proposal To Bottle Water Stirs Controversy
from THE MONTPELIER BRIDGE June 15, 2007
BY MIRIAM HANSEN
On June 14th, Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) hosted an informal discussion for their members and other citizens concerned about the Montpelier Springs proposal to develop a water bottling plant with water piped from a spring up on North Street in East Montpelier. The seventeen people who gathered for the brown-bag conversation included VNRC members, staff, neighbors of the proposed spring and members of other citizen groups who would like to see Vermont, like New Hampshire, declare water a public rather than a private resource.
Johanna Miller, Outreach Director for VNRC explained that the meeting was just a starting place for a discussion about a really important state, local and global issue. “There was no concrete plan of action,” she said. “There are so many different issues the community is going to need to wrestle with and consider including the environmental and ecological integrity of the resource as well as the potential for economic value.”
Joan Sax came to the discussion urging vigilance and caution. She is one of the founders of Water1st!, an outgrowth of the Randolph Neighborhood Association, a citizen group formed in response to problems the Randolph community has had with Vermont Pure Springs Bottling Company. Sax said that in 1992, Vermont Pure Springs was a small local company started by two Randolph residents. It has subsequently grown to become a multi-million dollar corporation. In 2004, Vermont Pure sold its two Randolph springs and single-serve business (8 oz -1.5 liter bottle size) to Micropack Bottled Water Corporation which later changed its name to ClearSource.
The litany of problems in Randolph, Sax says, have ranged from repeated permit violations regarding the number and size of trucks used to haul water, road hazards associated with the trucks, the amount of water drawn, conflict of interest of members on the Development Review Board in Randolph, degradation to the environment surrounding the springs and the stream they feed, and inadequate enforcement.
“The people doing the withdrawing,” Sax said, “are the same people doing measurements. That is the fox guarding the chicken coop. Both Vermont Pure and ClearSource have followed a pattern of violating permits with impunity and then asking for and receiving permits for greater use.”
Describing the scope of the current operation, Sax said, “They have 5000 gallon trucks, running at least every hour. If one looks at their permit they are allowed to operate from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. That’s 15 times 5000 gallons per day every day, except on Sunday when they wait until 9 a.m.”
Despite continued problems with truck noise and dangers associated with heavy traffic on a narrow country road, Sax says that the focus for Water1st! is on the primary issue of water withdrawal.
Sax warned people not to be complacent about this issue, saying, “The problem with water bottling companies is that most of that water does not go back to the aquifer it comes from. That is a permanent reduction in groundwater.”
“We’re not against development,” she continued. “We just feel that we ought to know that the water resources used for that development will not detract from the surrounding properties.”
Like VNRC, Sax stressed the importance of groundwater mapping, saying that even though it was mandated seven or eight years ago, up until this year there has been no funding. Referring to the $300,000 allocated this year, she concluded, “It’s really a drop in the bucket for what is needed.”
Jamie Shanley, a VNRC member, a hydrologist and neighbor of the proposed project, came to the meeting with an open mind, interested in hearing other people’s concerns.
Shanley shared his own concerns about the surface and spring/groundwater interaction, as this could play a big part in the quality and quantity of the resource. There are still so many unanswered questions, he said, such as the flow rate, meaning how much water is actually coming out of the ground.
He noted that the quoted variability of flow in the Montpelier Springs Project report, (by a factor of 10 from lowest to highest), suggests that the source of the spring could be fairly close to the surface. Extreme variability of flow leads to the question of how the company would ensure an adequate supply to keep production feasible.
Typically, according to Jim Morgan, President of ClearSource Inc., water bottling companies have agreements with smaller bulk water suppliers with other springs, to keep supply steady during seasonal periods of reduced flow. (ClearSource has a 50 year water supply contract with the owner of a spring in Stockbridge, Vermont, to purchase up to 5,000,000 gallons of water per month.)
Nona Estrin came to the VNRC discussion as a representative of The East Montpelier Trails. She explained that the spring lies directly below and adjoining property deeded to The East Montpelier Trails and The Vermont Land Trust, and subsequently deeded to the town. The old pipeline that used to provide water for Montpelier residents runs beneath this property.
“So there is a historical interest as well as a current interest,” Estrin said. “in restoring, if possible, a gravity feed source of water for the city of Montpelier, which could be accessed by walking in an emergency, such as a prolonged power outage.”
Estrin also expressed a personal interest “in the direction of our towns putting some regulations in place for any development of water. It is a chance to do something at the regulatory level to protect us from anything harmful to citizens.”
“You can’t depend on every single entrepreneur that comes along to do the right thing. We have to protect ourselves.” Estrin said.
Sax would certainly agree with this assessment.
Sidebar: Response to Permit Violation Allegations from Jim Morgan, President of ClearSource Inc.
We have not violated any trucking or water withdrawal permits since we acquired the Randolph springs in 2004. In the summer of 2006, in response to a suit filed by a small group of local residents, The Vermont Environmental Court affirmed in summary judgment, the permitting decision made by the Development Review Board of the town of Randolph related to both trucking and water withdrawal.”
Morgan revealed that they have approximately 100 people employed during the three shifts at the bottling plant in Randolph. He declined to reveal the number of gallons of water being drawn from the two springs, saying that this was a private matter.