HOOD RIVER, Ore. (KOIN) — Hood River County has cleared the way for a group of residents to start collecting signatures for a ballot measure that would prohibit commercial bottling operations in the county.
The group, Local Water Alliance, held a rally in downtown Hood River Thursday.
Local residents have been fighting for years to block a Nestle water bottling plant on a 25-acre piece of industrial land in Cascade Locks. but they are worried they are losing ground.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which controls the springs, agreed to trade part of the water rights to the city of Cascade Locks in exchange for part of the city’s water supply. Cascade Locks would then sell the spring water to Nestle.
The city says the bottling plant would boost property tax collections by almost 70%, add almost 50 permanent jobs and construction work.
But opponents say now is not the time to sell off any water in a county that is in a drought emergency.
The city administrator, though, said while the county is in water trouble, Cascade Locks along the edge of the Columbia River has had close to normal rainfall.
The group needs 2,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot. Despite the inititative gathering steam, the city council will continue to try and get the bottling plant built.
