Nestle needs water to expand, but critics aren’t backing down

The increased withdrawal of water from Ginnie Springs for Nestlé Waters will have a negligible impact on the spring system and is sought because the company is expanding production at its High Springs bottling plant, a report for a renewed permit states.

Pumping 1.152 million gallons a day will lower the water level in a wetland associated with Ginnie Springs by less than an inch, according to modeling by a consulting firm for Seven Springs Water Co.

The testing included pumping from the aquifer to determine its impact on wetlands associated with Ginnie Springs.

Seven Springs, a company formed by the family that owns Ginnie Springs Park, wants a permit renewal to pump water to a Nestlé bottling plant.

It must pay a small fee for the permit, and Nestlé pays Seven Springs and an undisclosed amount for the water. Neither company pays the state for the water.

The permit application to the Suwannee River Water Management District has resulted in a flood of condemnation from the region, state, U.S. and world.

Nestlé Natural Resource Manager George Ring told The Sun the company’s business depends on a sustainable water source.

“It really doesn’t make much sense for a company to come and dry up that resource or squander that resource,” Ring said. “Our business being water, we put a lot of time and money into making sure it is a sustainable, long-term resource.”

But advocates for the springs and the Santa Fe River system believe it’s folly to allow the company to pump that much water when the system is under a recovery plan to try to ensure enough water will be available to maintain the health of the system.

That recovery plan includes setting minimum water flows and levels in the springs and the river.

Opponents are set to attend the Dec. 10 SRWMD Governing Board meeting and deliver a petition with more than 150,000 signatures requesting the permit not be granted.

The petition will be presented by Sum of Us, a global organization that tries to curb the influence of corporations on the environment.

More than 15,000 people have submitted comments to the district. District spokeswoman Katelyn Potter said a few favor the project but most oppose it.

Fairly typical of many of the comments submitted to the district’s website was this:

“The springs are being pumped out and water volume is down 30%,” wrote Leonard Cohen of Alachua. “Why should we further degrade the quality of our springs so Nestlé can profit off our loss and contribute to further environmental degradation by selling more unbiodegradable plastic bottles. Say no to Nestlé.”

Ginnie Springs in Gilchrist County is one of several springs along County Road 340 in Alachua and Gilchrist counties near High Springs.

Seven Springs has an existing permit to pump up to 1.152 million gallons a day out of the aquifer at Ginnie. However, the various owners of the bottling plant have historically never pumped that much.

Nestlé bought the plant at the end of 2018. It has two bottling lines and plans to expand to four, giving it the capacity to produce more water.

Seven Springs hired Geosyntec Consultants to try to determine the future impact of additional water withdrawal. Geosyntec did a 35-day pumping test the summer of 2018 and concluded that the impact would be less than an inch.

But the district has requested more information about the testing, including a demonstration that the aquifer was sufficiently stressed during the pumping. The district also wants information on how Santa Fe River levels, which were high when the testing was done, may have affected the results.

Also sought by the district is more information on Nestlé’s claim that demand for bottled water is growing, a justification for the need to pump more.

The potential to withdraw 1.152 million gallons a day has already been accounted for in the recovery plan, but Nestlé must still show why it needs more water, said district water program engineer Stefani Weeks.

“They have to have both the capacity to handle that water and the demand,” Weeks said. “They can’t just say bottled water has a market. They have to show us the market analysis that told them they can process and sell that much water.”

The agenda for the Dec. 10 meeting has not been set, but Potter said Wednesday nothing regarding the permit is on it. A vote on the permit will depend on how quickly the information sought by the district is provided and then analyzed.