Wisconsin towns battle water bottling company

After spending a year searching for a new source of spring water, Greenwich, Conn.-based Perrier Group of North America has zeroed in on Big Spring and Mason Lake Watershed in New Haven, Wis., and Newport, Wis. Since March, the Waterkeepers of Wisconsin and the Concerned Citizens of Newport have been fighting to keep the spring water bottling company from building a plant and bottling water in their communities. Residents of the towns, which have a combined population of 1,000, have voted overwhelmingly (74 and 81 percent) against the company setting up shop. In September, New Haven held a recall election, which ousted the former town chairman who supported Perrier’s efforts despite the town’s opposition. Chuck Hill, an Adams County board supervisor for seven years, has taken over as New Haven’s town chairman.

Q: As the town representative now, what is your opinion of Perrier’s desire to move in to New Haven?

A: Well, of course, I’m against it totally. This is a small, rural farming and retirement community, and we don’t want our way of life changed. There’s over a 1 million-square-foot plant they want to build on prime agriculture land. We don’t want the truck traffic – over 900 trucks a day coming and going on our rural roads. We don’t want our wetlands drained because of the pumping. There’s a lake on the other side of the spring, Lake Mason, which is the fourth best fishery in the state of Wisconsin. It’s a highly used lake, which brings a lot of tourism here, and we don’t want to lose that.

Q: Is there any sign of them possibly going away?

A: No. It seems like the more we fight, the more they push back. They have the okay of the governor, who, of course, is a big promoter of economic development, which we understand. I am, too, but we have to pick and choose what development comes into our area.

Q: Have they already started drilling?

A: Yes, in March of this year, they came in and put in some wells for preliminary testing. And then, the state DNR issued some high-capacity well permits to them. The wells are 16 inches in diameter; they go down about 200 feet, and they pump up to 500 gallons a minute for an extended period of time. [The Waterkeepers of Wisconsin] filed a lawsuit against the landowners and Perrier, putting an injunction against their drilling, which they haven’t ceased yet. Then also, the Concerned Citizens of Newport filed a lawsuit against the DNR. And the Ho-Chunk Nation (which is an Indian nation here in Wisconsin) claims that there are Indian burial grounds and sacred water there in the springs, so they also filed a lawsuit against the DNR.

Q: What if other companies wanted to pump from your springs? Would that be a different story?

A: Well, that’s a touchy issue. It all depends how much. You take 500 gallons a minute – that’s a lot of water. I don’t think the people here would be so upset if it was a small company that wouldn’t pump out of our springs but would pump out of the aquifer. But Perrier wants our spring water, which feeds all of our streams and our lakes in this area.

Q: What is the timetable on the issue now?

A: Right now, it’s in Perrier’s hands. They’ll have to come to the planning and zoning department of Adams County to get rezoned. I think they’re just waiting to see if the attitude will change here in the township, but the ball is in their lap right now, and we’re just waiting to hear what their intentions are. But they’re still proceeding to drill, so that tells us they’re not going to just roll over and play dead.