WATER WARS: Local communities fight back against Nestle water bottling plants

KBOO is open to the public! To visit the station, contact your staff person or call 503-231-8032.


Produced by: 
KBOO
Air date: 
Wed, 04/15/2015 - 8:00am to 9:00am
Guest Matthew Bristow, Canvas Director of BARK, local forest watchdog group
A six-year battle to keep Nestle out of Cascadia and the Columbia Gorge is heating up again as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has agreed to trade its water rights at Oxbow Springs, which could pave the way for a Nestle bottled water plant in Cascade Locks, just west of Hood River. Concerned citizens in the Gorge, environmental groups, labor unions and others are renewing efforts to prevent that from happening. http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/04/odfw_agress_to_new_approach_fo.html
Due to phone problems in the air room, we were unable to have Bob Saunders of the Crunch Nestle Alliance  from Sacramento on the show, or call-ins. However, host Paul Roland and guest Matthew Bristow  did have a lively conversation about corporate food & beverage behemoth Nestle, specifically their bottled water branch, Nestle Waters, aka "The Healthy Hydration Company." 
Bark is calling for a demonstration on Thursday, April 16 at 7 a.m. at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge http://www.bark-out.org/event/bridge-action-protest-nestle-water-grab, 503-331-0374. There will be a sign and banner-making party Wednesday, April 15 at the Bark office, 537 SE Ash from 5-7 p..m.
Communities around North America have been fighting proposed or existing bottling plants, which draw large quantities of a public resource from springs, acquifers and even municipal water supplies. Stop Nestle Waters (http://stopnestlewaters.org/) is a coalition of such local groups from Maine to Michigan to Colorado to California and here in Oregon. They have succeeded in stopping some massive water privatization projects, just as they have for six years thus far here in Cascadia.
Nestle has in the past been targetted for nealth impacts of its infant formula in poor countries, including one of  the longest-running global corporate boycott campaigns in history.  The Corporate Research Project published a "Corporate Rap Sheet" on Nestle on their website: http://www.corp-research.org/nestle.
Nestles operations in California are coming under particularly intense scrutiny because of the acute water crisis from the prolonged drought. The Crunch Nestle Alliance was formed to challenge the company's withdrawal of millions of gallons of water in Sacramento and other sites around the state. In March, the group shut down the Sacramento bottling plant  with a creative and spirited protest https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/03/27/18770528.php. More on that campaign at https://www.facebook.com/TheEssenceOfLifeProject.
Local activists are asking people to weigh in with Governor Kate Brown, phone no. 503-378-4582 and the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, 503-947-6044.
Activists are also calling for a boycott of all Nestle bottled water brands, which include Arrowhead, Deer Park, Ice Mountain, Poland Spring, S. Pellegrino, Perrier, Nestea, and many others.
Other local groups include Food and Water Watch Portland, 971-266-4528, http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/
Download audio file

Audio by Topic: