NVEC Statement on Proposed Nestle Water Bottling Plant

Statement of Nittany Valley Environmental Coalition on Nestle Waters’ Proposal to Withdraw from Spring Creek Watershed

The availability and public access to clean drinking water is a global issue, particularly in an era of climate change and increased corporate control of water resources.

The waters of Centre County are exceptionally clean and abundant; they support our families and businesses, not to mention our agriculture, fishing and hunting tourism, and watershed flora and fauna.

With care, Spring Creek should provide water for many decades of continued local population growth.

However, when millions of people opt out of drinking tap water there is less political and public support for taking care of public water supplies.  

The water used by the Spring Township Water Authority comes from surface and subsurface flows around Logan Branch. Nestle Waters’ extraction of an additional 158 million gallons each year will reduce flows into Spring Creek by an equal amount, taking the water outside our community.

Other communities that have let Nestle extract local water have lost control of their water supplies, especially when confronted with drought. The callous corporate practices of Nestle in their interactions with these communities are well-documented and required expensive litigation.

While we are sympathetic to the promise of jobs from Nestle, the relative benefit of job creation may not be worth the long-term cost, especially if our groundwater becomes the target for even more bottling companies, or Nestle asks for an increased water allotment.

The water under Spring Township does not belong to Spring Township alone. Nittany Valley Environmental Coalition opposes the extraction of water from Spring Creek or groundwater in the Centre Region for bottling by Nestle Waters and other water bottling companies.

Nittany Valley Environmental Coalition is a 501(c)4 organization located in Centre County, Pennsylvania.