Nestle Eyes Water in Chaffee County, CO - Despite Laws Protecting Basin From Water Removal

Nestle Waters of North America is in the process of cutting a deal with the town of Salida, CO and the Arkansas River Conservation District. The goal? Avoid laws created to prevent the wholesale removal of water from a specific basin.

From Chris Woodka of the Pueblo Chieftan:

Nestle Waters North America, Salida and the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District are working on a deal that would allow the bottled water giant to ship up to 200 acre-feet of water a year to its Denver plant, possibly to market as spring water.

The spring is located in Nathrop, north of Salida.

Essentially, Nestle would take advantage of the Upper Ark’s augmentation plan to use Salida’s water to replace the water it pumps from a well near a spring on property it is buying near Nathrop. Salida would sell the company excess water for 20 years, and the Upper Ark’s augmentation plan would allow the water to be used to replace flows, since Salida’s water cannot be used outside the city without a change in court decree.

Unfortunately, those charged with protecting the Arkansas River seem happy to see the water leave the basin (from the same story):

Some have asked why the Upper Ark would support moving water from the basin, but Scanga believes bottling water is no different than his family business, meat packing and marketing, where animals are raised on water in one basin, slaughtered and shipped all over the country.“It’s the same thing, putting water in a bottle or putting water in an animal,” Scanga said.

We’d like to go on record as suggesting bottling water is not the same as raising livestock - and the laws in place seemingly recognize that reality.

Little Local Opposition

I spoke to Pueblo Chieftan reporter Woodka about the deal, and he says local opposition is light; while some have questioned the removal of so much water from the basin - and the odd thinking of Scanga (the man charged with protecting the basin’s water) - there isn’t much in the way of widespread opposition to Nestle’s proposed water mining operation.

Still, even if those charged with protecting the watershed are OK with the removal, the other impacts to the area are the same facing rural communities everywhere.

Truck Impacts to the Area

One of the biggest is an increase in truck traffic: Mapquest tells us Nestle’s Denver plant is approximately 140 miles from Salida, and the story suggests Nestle wants to pull as much as 65 million gallons of water annually. Given an average 6,000 gallon water load (water’s heavy, so tankers typically carry less than a gasoline tanker might), that means the area’s looking at 60 truck trips per day (30 trucks coming and going) - every day of the year.

In addition, the tankers will likely take US 285 - a winding road that takes in several high passes in the Rocky Mountains, a reality which suggests Salida’s going to see a lot more truck traffic in the summer months than the winter.

A Recurring Pattern

This attempt to remove water from the Upper Arkansas River neatly follows Nestle’s operations in other areas; they establish the bottling plant, then begin tapping other water sources in the area - increasing impacts like truck traffic, noise, pollution, and water withdrawals from underground sources - with little or no economic return to the area.

Let’s hope Colorado wakes up before it’s too late.

Source: StopNestleWaters.org

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