Letter to the Editor by Tom Brennan, Natural Resource Manager, Poland Spring Natural Spring Water
Boston Globe
July 17, 2008
Re: Putting a cap on the bottled water industry (Amy Vickers, July 7, 2008)
Dear Editor:
Nestlé Waters cares deeply about protecting the environment, not to mention the water supplies of local communities. Our business depends on managing our water sources responsibly, ensuring that what we harvest can be replaced by nature.
Both the Wekepeke Reservation land in Clinton and the Montague Plains offer plentiful water supplies, and Vickers’ suggested moratorium on new harvesting for bottled water denies the right of towns to benefit from a local resource. If a community has water available, and research confirms that nature can replenish that water, the community should have the right to profit from the water and use the revenue to benefit residents.
Towns are not alone in making decisions about their water, as Vickers suggests. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection provides a comprehensive review and permitting process for proposed water withdrawals, and the Commonwealth’s Water Management Act ensures ongoing monitoring.
We agree that access to clean water is a public right. We recognize our responsibility to the communities where we do business, and to the environment. Our goal is to engage with communities fairly, abiding by their rules and regulations. We seek a result that benefits and protects the public interest as well as our own.
Sincerely,
Tom Brennan
Natural Resource Manager
Poland Spring Natural Spring Water
More information on the company’s Massachusetts siting projects is available online.
