Nestlé is sucking water from a Canadian watershed unrestrained during drought conditions -- just to sell bottled water.
Nestlé has won a permit to drain an Ontario aquifer at any time while the surrounding communities which relies on the aquifer have by-laws on water use during dry conditions in the summer.
Currently, Nestlé has a permit through 2017 to take about 1.1 million litres of water per day from Hillsburgh, Ontario for its bottling operations in nearby Aberfoyle -- even during drought conditions while there are by-laws on water use for households.
A number of groups are fighting back. “Ontario must prioritize communities’ right to water above a private company’s thirst for profit,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson for the Council of Canadians.
Nestlé has been in the news a lot lately for attempting to profit from our natural resources. Last month, over 220,000 SumOfUs supporters have signed our petition against Nestlé's greedy effort to patent fennel flower, a cure-all medicinal remedy for billions of people in impoverished communities across the Middle East and Asia.
Several days after we send out our petition, a video emerged showed Nestlé’s chairperson claiming that the idea water is a human right comes from “extremist” NGOs and that water is a foodstuff that should have a market value.
Nestlé has dealt with NGO's and lost before -- the years-long boycott over Nestlé dirty tactics to get mothers to stop breast feeding and use baby formula was a historic successful in corporate campaigning.
Nestlé’s appetite to commodify water and flowers is a recurring strategy by a corporation with a pattern of seeking to privatize and profit from traditional knowledge and our natural resources. By speaking out against the draining of our watersheds, you will be taking a stand against Nestlé’s evil strategy to profit off everything in nature.
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