The Sacramento City Council will discuss whether it should draft an urgency ordinance that would require special permits for water bottling facilities after some members of the community raised concerns over a new Nestle water plant planned for south Sacramento.

Councilman Kevin McCarty asked Tuesday night for city staff to place the discussion on a council agenda in the near future. He also asked the city's utilities department to explore a system of tiered water rates for commercial facilities.

After six years of surprisingly contentious and frustrating attempts to bottle the glacier-fed spring water flowing in the small Northern California town of McCloud, Nestlé is giving up.

With Nestlé’s announcement to withdraw its water bottling facility plans only four days old and a public hearing on the issue of raising district water service rates, it was no surprise that last Monday’s McCloud directors meeting was packed.

With a public hearing for protest against a proposed water rate increase scheduled first, many residents presented their concerns on the issue.

McCloud, Calif. -

Nestlé Waters North America has decided to withdraw its proposal to build a bottling facility in McCloud.
The decision followed what Nestlé Waters described as “a thorough analysis of its business operations in Northern California,” including the new facility the company has secured in Sacramento that it sees as a replacement for the production expected from McCloud.

Water pumps began running this week at the proposed Crystal Geyser sparkling water bottling plant site in Orland.

Conducting the tests at County Road 200 and County Road N is Malcolm Pirnie, a 100-year-old environmental engineering firm specializing in water engineering.

"The key to the test we are starting this week in Orland is to establish and benchmark what is referred to as a 'sustainable yield,' the pumping rate that can reliably be used over a long period of time without negatively impacting the aquifer or nearby private wells," Project Manager James Strandberg said.

ORLAND — For the first time since Crystal Geyser Water Co. revealed it may locate a plant in Orland, the City Council heard comments at an official meeting from concerned citizens who oppose the project.

The issue has not been discussed before by the council because the application goes through the Technical Advisory Committee for a decision.

The council could not take action or respond in depth because the comments were made during time reserved for unscheduled citizens' business.

UNITED NATIONS - The growing commercialisation of water - and the widespread influence of the bottling industry worldwide - is triggering a rising demand for the legal classification of one of the basic necessities of life as a human right.

"We definitely need a covenant or [an international] treaty on the right to water so as to establish once and for all that no one on earth must be denied water because of inability to pay," says Maude Barlow, a senior adviser to the President of the U.N. General Assembly, on water issues.

Concerned citizens were out in force Monday night to talk about the proposed Crystal Geyser Water Co. bottling plant.
The three-hour discussion, led by almond farmer Joanne Overton with an introduction by almond and prune farmer Sharon Ellis-Conte, began with comments from the standing-room-only crowd at the Farm Bureau Office in Orland.

McCloud, Calif. -

There are no plans to pull out of McCloud quite yet, which was reported in Monday’s Siskiyou Daily News, according to Dave Palais, Nestlé Waters North America’s natural resources manager for Northern California.

Palais, who has been involved with the plans for a bottling plant in McCloud for several years, said in an interview Monday that Nestlé has selected a site in Sacramento for a new proposed bottling facility, but the impact that facility will have on plans for McCloud is yet to be analyzed.

Officials at Crystal Geyser Water Co. in Calistoga acknowledge they no longer use on-site water sources for their bottled sparkling water.

But they are tight-lipped about the sources for the water they sell. Some of it comes from wells in Rohnert Park and Livermore, according to tanker drivers who spoke this week to a reporter.

Richard Weklych, vice-president for manufacturing at Crystal Geyser, said he would neither confirm nor deny what they said.