NYC, boasting some pretty good tap water, is launching a campaign to promote its tap water over bottled water. And they’re selling T-shirts and reusable water bottles! But, they won’t bottle their water as that would go against their Green message of discouraging plastic bottles for energy and waste reasons.
I like this, and not just because they are using a Point of Use Cooler, like our TM1R…
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/dc-grocer-bans-water-bottles.html
MOM’s Organic Market is getting in on D.C.’s anti-plastic push with a decision to eliminate the sale of water bottles from its six regional markets.
As part of its “Battle the Bottle” campaign, the grocer plans to add water filtration machines in stores, allowing customers to fill their own bottles with up to a gallon at no cost. The new system should be in place within the next few weeks, Scott Nash, the founder and CEO of MOM’s, said.
"Societies are truly addicted to plastic, much in the way we are addicted to oil," Nash said in a statement.
Pollution and fears over potentially harmful chemicals in plastic bottles have helped drive anti-plastic sentiment in recent years.
In January, D.C. added a 5-cent tax on plastic bags that has forced a dramatic drop in their use.
Nestle is raising salmon in municipal well water to determine if tapping 100 million gallons of local spring water in a small Oregon town is feasible. Faced with decreasing revenue in its massive bottled water empire, Nestle is getting creative in trying to thwart environmentalists’ objections to its acquisition of source water from rural springs in small towns. Many of these towns are economically depressed and the potential new revenue and job source is very tempting. Personally, I prefer purified municipal water, so I’m happy leaving rural springs pristine. Of course, I’m not Nestle.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704414504575243921712969144.html?KEYWORDS=nestle
MAY 25, 2010
CASCADE LOCKS, Oregon—In this idyllic town on the north slope of Mount Hood, an autopsy on three dead rainbow trout may play a role in Nestlé SA’s efforts to reverse a deep slide in its bottled-water business.
Bottled water, which for years delivered double-digit growth for Nestlé, is under fire from environmentalists. They decry the energy used to transport it and the use of billions of plastic bottles, and oppose efforts to use new springs, citing concerns about water scarcity.
In Cascade Locks, Nestlé is trying to tap 100 million gallons of water annually for its Arrowhead water brand from a new spring—and keep the environmentalists happy, too. A key is proving that water drawn from the spring—which supplies a hatchery that raises Idaho Sockeye, an endangered species—can be replaced with municipal well water, with no harm to the fish.
Nestlé is running a one-year test here to raise 700 rainbow trout in a tank filled with well water. Worried that activists might sabotage the test, Nestlé put the 1,700-gallon tank under lock and added security cameras. Officials from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife monitor the fish’s progress and are now autopsying the three that have died so far.
"We are accused of mining water, which would suggest we are depleting a resource," says Kim Jeffrey, chief executive of Nestlé’s North American water business. "But instead, we take water in a sustainable way. The notion that we just take what we want is simply not factual."
The project is testament to Nestlé’s determination to fix its bottled-water business. Its North American water sales fell to 4.4 billion Swiss francs, or $4.2 billion, in 2009, down 13% from 2007.
"Water is a category that gave us so many years of joy," Nestlé Chief Executive Paul Bulcke said in an interview. "And all of a sudden, it changes. That is what hurts."
Until 2007, bottled water was a dream business for Nestlé, whose brands include Pure Life, Poland Springs and Perrier. Per-capita consumption of bottled water in the U.S. soared to 29 gallons in 2007 from 16 gallons in 2000. A bottle of Nestlé’s San Pellegrino water became a trendy statement of health consciousness.
Annual growth rates of Nestlé’s U.S. water business topped 15% in the mid-2000s. By last year, it had 38% of the $10 billion U.S. bottled-water market, more than rivals Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. combined.
But the gusher has slowed the past two years as environmentalists have tried making bottled water a new cause. Some tony restaurants in Los Angeles and New York have conspicuously stopped offering bottled water. A slate of documentaries claims that water producers mislead the public about the virtues of bottled water compared to tap.
Nestlé’s water sales have been hit badly by the economic downturn, as shoppers began seeing bottled water as an unnecessary luxury, turning to cheaper tap water instead. Moreover, consumers who still wanted bottled water began buying some of the slew of cheaper new private-label brands that supermarkets have launched over the last couple of years. In response, Nestlé has been pushing Pure Life, a lower-priced water that comes from purified municipal sources.
Bottlers say bottled water represents a small share of water use and is typically tapped in a sustainable way, a view backed by independent hydrologists. But the attacks hurt.
![[WATER_p1]](http://sg.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AV393B_WATER_NS_20100524191228.gif)
In 2007, one group launched a campaign called "Lying in Advertising." One poster read: "Bottled Water Causes Blindness in Puppies," with a tagline reading, "If bottled-water companies can lie, we can too." And now, a Congressional bill that would slap a 4% tax on bottled water to pay for upgrades of municipal water systems is gaining fresh attention, after a rupture in a water main left two million Boston residents without drinkable water in May.
Nestlé has been a favorite target of activists since the 1970s, when it encountered tough criticism of how it marketed baby formula to poor mothers in underdeveloped countries. Its role as leader of the U.S. bottled-water market and the fact that it taps springs in often-pristine rural areas has exposed it to particular criticism from opponents of bottled water.
Some 80% of Nestlé’s bottled water is from springs, while the rest is purified municipal water. Coke and Pepsi’s bottled water brands largely come from purified municipal sources.
Last fall, Nestlé threw in the towel on plans to tap one glacier-fed spring in Northern California after a six-year battle. Nestlé waged a six-year court case to carry on using a spring in Michigan, reaching a settlement last summer. In October, it gained approval to tap a Colorado source, after agreeing to 44 conditions.
Now, in Cascade Locks, Nestlé is fighting environmentalists’ opposition to its plan to draw water from a spring in this 1,100-person town.
Finding the right spring for bottled water is no easy task.
Water is costly to transport, so a spring must be relatively close to large markets, yet far enough to protect it from urban pollutants. It must have enough spare capacity to make it worth building a bottling plant nearby, and the water needs the right balance of minerals to taste right.
The job has gotten tougher as Nestlé tries to cut costs and carbon emissions by decreasing the distances its trucks travel; it has cut the average miles each delivery requires by about 15% since 2007. Nine out of 10 candidate springs turn out to be unsuitable, says Dave Palais, a Nestlé resource manager.
Cascade Locks is a rare fit. Mr. Palais has been searching for a spring to supply water to Northwest markets since 2007. The company currently trucks water from California or British Columbia.
Cascade Locks, which gets about 80 inches of rain a year and sits right off Interstate 84, is home to Oxbow Springs. When Nestlé came calling in 2008, Cascade Locks’ town fathers were thrilled. Since the decline of the timber industry in the 1970s, Cascade Locks has struggled. With 18% unemployment, the town has seen an exodus of residents. Last year, the high school closed due to a drop in enrollment. The number of businesses has dwindled from about 90 three decades ago to about a dozen.
To bottle Oxbow Springs’ water, Nestlé has proposed a plan that includes looking out for Idaho Sockeye, which are among the fish raised in a 100-year-old hatchery managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
![[WATER_jmp]](http://sg.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AV394_WATER__NS_20100524191239.gif)
Nestlé would pipe water from the spring to a proposed new $50 million bottling plant that would employ 53 workers. In turn, it would pump Cascade Locks’ municipal well water to the hatchery to replace all the water taken from the spring—buying 300 gallons a minute from the town for the switch, or about a sixth the total municipal capacity.
Town officials say Nestlé would pay about $360,000 a year for the water under current industrial rates, but say they could strike a deal for special pricing for such a large customer.
The project would boost Cascade Locks’ beleaguered finances by doubling the city’s property taxes. City Administrator Bernard Seeger envisions sprucing up the town’s dilapidated main street and expanding police service from three days to five.
"When Nestlé came, we said, ‘Wow, this would be amazing,"’ says Mr. Seeger. "We’re sitting on a massive amount of water here."
The Fish and Wildlife Department, which had looked for a way to bring more water to the hatchery several years ago but found it too expensive, could use the new pumps and pipes that Nestlé would install to expand the operation, says Douglas Bochsler, the agency official in charge of the project.
Nestlé has held two town hall meetings to explain the project and hear residents’ concerns. It has rented a store front on Cascade Locks’ main street where Mr. Palais spends several days a month to answer questions and set up a toll-free number, although it says few calls have come in so far.
Environmentalists have been just as quick off the mark. Washington D.C.-based Food and Water Watch, a dogged opponent of Nestlé, has created a coalition of 16 environmental and religious groups dubbed "Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge." In March, it delivered a 10-gallon water bottle holding 3,700 signatures of opponents to Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. Protesters waved placards reading "Protect Oregon’s Water."
Julia DeGraw, the Food and Water Watch activist leading the campaign, argues that a resource as precious as water should never fall into corporate hands, saying it discourages cities from investing in water infrastructure and increases the risk corporate interests may prevail over public ones in case of a drought. She raises environmental concerns, including the effect on fish. Ms. DeGraw also accuses Nestlé of targeting towns that are economically depressed, an allegation Nestlé denies. She says Nestlé has paid on average one-fifth of one cent a gallon to buy spring water, while selling it to consumers for $5.30.
"A lot of Oregonians don’t want to see the state’s resources extracted by a multinational that would make a massive profit off it," says Ms. DeGraw, a native Oregonian. "It’s all or nothing for us."
Nestlé says it offers towns fair conditions to tap springs and fully informs citizens of its plans. Nestlé says the difference between its purchase price and the retail sales price is due to the cost of filtering, bottling and distributing its water; it says its lowest retail price for a gallon of spring water is about $1.20.
The Oregon Water Resources Department plans to hold a public comment period before deciding, while the Department of Fish and Wildlife says it would include a clause to break any contract with Nestlé in case of adverse environmental impacts.
Nestlé says it’s conducting studies to address some environmental concerns. Only after studies are done, and the year-long test to see that the fish survive in municipal water, will Nestlé file its application with state authorities.
"If Food and Water Watch wants to be responsible, they should wait to see what the [tests] say and not make spurious arguments," says Nestlé’s Mr. Jeffrey.
In April, at a screening of a new anti-bottled-water documentary, "Tapped," Mr. Jeffrey challenged Jim Walsh, a Food and Water Watch leader also in attendance. "Do you want to come in and talk to me about the issues, or do you just want to see us out of business?" Mr. Jeffrey says he asked Mr. Walsh.
"The latter," responded Mr. Walsh, according to Mr. Jeffrey’s recollection.
Mr. Walsh says he doesn’t recall saying he wanted to see Nestlé go out of business, but says his group is "fundamentally opposed to the process of bottling water."
Mr. Jeffrey, a 32-year veteran of the bottled-water business, says state authorities monitor Nestlé’s spring withdrawals too closely for it to deplete water. A Nestlé plant draws about the same amount of water in a year as a single ski area or a large farm, he says, and would have to abide by restrictions during droughts.
Hydrologists say bottled water is a tiny fraction of what industry, farms and homes use and don’t generally view it as a threat to aquifers. "Bottled water use is a drop in the bucket," says Thomas Harter, expert in water management at the University of California at Davis.
The Cascade Locks efforts are part of a push by the company to cast its water in a friendlier light. Nestlé is launching a lighter bottle with nine grams of plastic, a quarter of that found in some sports-drinks packaging. Nestlé truck drivers must now turn off engines instead of idling and the company is introducing hydrogen-fuel-cell forklifts.
Environmentalists say it is impossible for a company that churns out 20 billion plastic bottles a year to become environmentally friendly and dismiss the efforts as "bluewashing."
In Cascade Locks, some resent seeing a rare business opportunity possibly lost. "This is becoming the Battle of the Middle Gorge," says Mayor Brad Lorang. "Stopping Nestlé won’t save the planet, but getting Nestlé to come here could save the town."
Write to Deborah Ball at deborah.ball@wsj.com
Corporate Accountability International, a nonprofit group, reported the bottled water spending of 5 states – Maryland, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon. Spending ranged from $78,000 to $475,000. Citing the irony of the government itself choosing bottled water over tap water (regulated and declared “safe” by our government), the group called on the states to stop spending money on bottled water.
According to a new report released today, the state of Maryland spent at least $200,000 on bottled water last year.
The report, called Getting States Off the Bottle, was released by Corporate Accountability International, a membership nonprofit that calls out corporations on their "irresponsible and dangerous" actions.
The group says water bottling companies scare the public into drinking only bottle water that fouls the environment and burdens the budget. But in about 44 percent of cases, bottle water is tap water. At the same time state and local governments are buying into the companies’ PR campaign that local tap water is unsafe, the governments are failing to invest in proper upkeep of water infrastructure, the report says.
The report authors have taken a look at state bottled water expenditures — though a real look is tough because a lot of the water purchases are hard to track. This is the second installment of the report and includes five states. Maryland is one. The others are Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon. The range of spending was between $78,000 and $475,000 during fiscal ‘09.
“Plastic water bottles are a major contributor to waste in our stream, rivers, and bay.” said Mary Roby, executive director of Herring Run Watershed Association, in a statement. She participated in an event to draw attention to the bottled water today in Druid Hill Park. She and others called on Gov. O’Malley to cancel state spending on bottled water.
Supporters say more than 100 cities and three states (Illinois, Virginia and New York) already have cut spending on bottled water or upped their contribution to public water.
Corporate Accountability International says officials in Gov. O’Malley’s office have said they will work on reducing spending on bottled water and continue to invest in public water. Already the state has funneled $119 million in stimulus money to water quality and drinking water projects in the state. The group says public water systems across the country need about $22 billion in investment.
The group also wants other public workers — and the public — to cut bottled water use in non-emergency situations. Officials there say surveys show a third of people who had switched to bottled water have recently switched back.
Are you one of them?
On World Water Day, the UN released a report stating that polluted water creates illnesses that fill more than half of the world’s hospital beds. They estimate that 3.7 percent of all deaths are related to polluted water, which is more than die from all forms of violence.
They also confirmed that the bottled water used in the U.S. alone requires 17 million barrels of oil to produce.
Those are two good reasons to filter your own water!
AP – An Indian village boy runs through a parched field on World Water Day in Berhampur, Orissa state, India, …
By RONALD BERA, Associated Press Writer – Mon Mar 22, 12:30 pm ET
NAIROBI, Kenya – More people die from polluted water every year than from all forms of violence, including war, the U.N. said in a report Monday that highlights the need for clean drinking water.
The report, launched Monday to coincide with World Water Day, said an estimated 2 billion tons of waste water — including fertilizer run-off, sewage and industrial waste — is being discharged daily. That waste fuels the spread of disease and damages ecosystems.
"Sick Water" — the report from the U.N. Environment Program — said that 3.7 percent of all deaths are attributed to water-related diseases, translating into millions of deaths. More than half of the world’s hospital beds are filled by people suffering from water-related illnesses, it said.
"If we are not able to manage our waste, then that means more people dying from waterborne diseases," said Achim Steiner, the U.N. Undersecretary General and executive director of UNEP.
The report says that it takes 3 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water, and that bottled water in the U.S. requires the consumption of some 17 million barrels of oil yearly.
Improved wastewater management in Europe has resulted in significant environmental improvements there, the UNEP said, but that dead zones in oceans are still spreading worldwide. Dead zones are oxygen-deprived areas caused by pollution.
"If the world is to thrive, let alone to survive on a planet of 6 billion people heading to over 9 billion by 2050, we need to get collectively smarter and more intelligent about how we manage waste, including wastewaters," Steiner said.
Mother Jones put out another article on Bottled Water, citing the distance traveled by many top bottled water brands and the associated carbon emissions created by the transportation of the bottle to San Francisco (results will vary if you live on the East Coast, but you probably know that). For those who wonder why bottled water is picked on when we import spices, food, drinks, etc. from all over the world, the main point is that this is water. And water is water. Everywhere. Two hydrogens and one oxygen. There may be variations in the amount of minerals in the water and the makeup of those minerals, but water is water. We have local spring water, local purified water, local artesian water, local sparkling water, and any water you can think of right here in the United States. So, there’s no need to ship an 18 ounce glass bottle over 6,000 miles to quench our thirst. It’s all right here – if you have to go bottled, at least go local bottled.
Or, you can purify your own at home (shameless plug).
We charted the miles per bottle for nine top water brands.
— By Jen Phillips
September/October 2009 Issue
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After its articles on Fiji Water garnered so much attention, Mother Jones followed up with a list of other missteps by bottled water companies. From Coca-Cola’s drying up a village in India to IBWA’s fake Twitter “Water Babe,” desperate times are creating desperate measures.
From Arrowhead to Volvic, Fiji’s not the only bottled water with a PR challenge.
— By Jen Phillips
September/October 2009 Issue
WET REGRET Water comes from the Las Vegas municipal supply. A test by the Environmental Working Group found it had 200% of the allowable trihalomethane, a carcinogen, and included several chemicals known to cause DNA damage.
WET REGRET Coca-Cola’s bottling plant near the village of Plachimada in Kerala, India, began pumping groundwater in 2000. When wells dried up and villagers couldn’t irrigate their fields, Coke offered a goodwill gesture: heavy-metal-laced sludge from the plant to use as fertilizer. After company ignored years of protests—and two government orders to install wastewater treatment and provide drinking water to villagers—the state ordered Coke plant to close in 2004. (Coke won the right to reopen the next year.)
WET REGRET Nestlé is seeking a permit to pipe 65 million gallons a year from a spring in rural Colorado. When critics raised concerns about the effect of climate change on local water supplies, Nestlé said it was "illogical" to base decisions on changes "many years in the future."
WET REGRET Last fall, Japan recalled 570,000 bottles of the French water after finding the toxic paint chemicals xylene and naphthalene in the bottles.
WET REGRET In the middle of a drought, convinced officials to let it pump water from Florida’s Madison Blue Spring State Park for 14 years for no fee except a $230 permit (more than offset by nearly $1.7 million in tax subsidies).
WET REGRET Pays nothing (other than small lease and $85 yearly well fee) to pump from a Mecosta County, Michigan, spring. Citizens sued, saying the plant would damage nearby waterways, and prevailed. But Nestlé appealed and this past July won the right to continue pumping up to 200 gal./minute.
WET REGRET Created @Bottled H20Babe on Twitter: "A lover of bottled water, a convenient, refreshing beverage that shouldn’t be restricted by governments or false claims."
Ignoring the land minds and decades of tension, apparently the DMZ (the stretch of “demilitarized” land between North and South Korea) is the source of “pristene” water as its been left alone since 1953. Proving that no water is out of bounds for the ever growing number of bottling companies, DMZ water is selling throughout Korea and the company is considering exporting.
http://www.watertechonline.com/news.asp?N_ID=73068
World’s most dangerous bottled water source
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
CAMP RED CLOUD, SOUTH KOREA — Many water bottlers draw their raw water from pristine places, but only one has a very hazardous source — the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North Korea and South Korea, according to a December 1 article in Stars and Stripes.
Lotte Chilsung Co., a bottler in South Korea, is now drawing water from beneath the DMZ for its operation, after having obtained special permission from the South Korea Ministry of Defense to set up a pumping operation, reported Stars and Stripes, a newspaper circulated to the US military.
Because the DMZ has been in a totally natural state since the end of the Korean War in 1953, its ecosystem “is the best in the world,” claims Chun Woo-chul, a spokesman for the company. Sprinkled with land mines, heavily fortified and considered one of the most dangerous places on Earth, the DMZ is a strip of land 2.5 miles wide and 155 miles long, the article says.
For the past three months, the company has been producing and selling its “DMZ” brand of bottled water, sales of which have been good throughout Korea, Chun was quoted saying in the article. He said the company is thinking about exporting the brand.
Naturalists have previously noted the abundance and variety of wildlife and plant species that thrive in the DMZ. Chun said company officials at first were concerned that a “DMZ” brand might have negative connotations due to the continuing tensions between the two Koreas, but apparently many bottled water consumers also know the zone is untouched by human hands.
By Jon Rabiroff and Hwang Hae-rym, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Jon Rabiroff/Stars and Stripes
The makers of DMZ bottled water hope the name conjures up images of the natural beauty of Korea’s Demilitarized Zone and not the danger and tension.
CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — After a long run or grueling workout, U.S. service members around South Korea will now be able to reach for a refreshing bottle of “DMZ” brand natural mineral water.
That’s right, bottled water named after the Demilitarized Zone — one of the most dangerous places on the planet, known for its land mines and the ongoing tension between North and South Korea.
Chun Woo-chul, spokesman for the Lotte Chilsung Co., which distributes the water nationwide, conceded that company officials “had fears and concerns about the negative image many people have of the DMZ, such as heightened tensions and conflict between the two Koreas, war, division, lethal mines and how the area is heavily fortified.”
However, he said, surveys showed that more people had a positive image of how the DMZ’s “ecosystem is the best in the world, that has been left untouched by humans for the past 50 years.”
“We decided there was no better name than (Lotte Icis) DMZ 2km to pinpoint the purity and cleanness of this water,” Chun said.
Indeed, ecologists consider the DMZ one of the most important natural areas in the world thanks to the fact that the strip — which is 2.5 miles wide and runs 155 miles from coast to coast — has been left unspoiled by humans since hostilities ended in 1953.
Chun said the name on the bottles is more than a marketing ploy. The water is drawn from inside the DMZ (the “2km” on the label) and bottled nearby, he said. In fact, the company needed special permission from the South Korea Ministry of National Defense to set up its pumping operation.
The DMZ water has been on the market for about three months, and sales have been so good company officials are talking about possibly distributing it overseas.
“Reaction has been good and hot,” Chun said. “We are so proud of the quality of this water drawn from an area where nature has been left undisturbed.”
Taylor Made Water is having a warehouse sale this Friday from 10-4. We’re offering “experienced” equipment at rock bottom prices to clean out our warehouse.
Get rid of the bottled water in your house and have your own pure water any time you want it. We’ll have a full line of gear available from full 6 stage purification coolers with hot, cold, and room temp purified water to under counter filters. Now is your chance to get a commercial grade water purification system and eliminate bottled water from your life. We’ll also have water pumps, large water tanks, filters, and a host of other items.
Also check out our Keurig coffee brewers, Kcups, fresh roasted coffee, and more!!
10-4 Friday November 6!!
1915 Mark Court, Suite 110, Concord, CA.
Here’s yet another update on the Sacramento Nestle plant that was going far too smoothly for Nestle (it isn’t now). Sacramento officials ordered Nestle to stop work on the plant over environmental concerns and a possible public hearing process. I’m glad to see Sacramento sticking up for itself and taking a deeper look at the potential for 80 million gallons of water per year being bottled. Time will tell if Nestle has another McCloud on its hands.
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2283859.html
By Ryan Lillis
The city of Sacramento has ordered food giant Nestlé to stop work on construction of a new bottled water plant in south Sacramento while the City Council decides whether to impose new planning requirements on such facilities.
The council is scheduled to vote tonight on whether to require special permits for beverage bottling plants – which means they would have to go through public hearings before the Planning Commission and council.
Stricter environmental regulations could also be placed on the projects if the proposed ordinance is passed, said David Kwong, acting director of the Community Development Department.
"With a pending ordinance, the issue of allowing work to more forward came into question," Kwong said. "This was a prudent measure."
Brendan O’Rourke, a supply chain director for Nestlé, criticized the city for issuing the stop work order without an immediate explanation. The order – which was taped to a warehouse door around 3:45 p.m. Friday – put 80 people out of work, according to Nestlé.
Kwong said city officials contacted Nestlé on Monday to explain the delay.
"We’ve complied with the rules, we’ve followed the process and to change that process midstream is very concerning for us and for any business that would come here," O’Rourke said. He said the company has invested more than $3.8 million in the project, which is located in the Florin Fruitridge Industrial Park.
If the council votes against the special permit ordinance, city staff could decide to rescind the stop work order as early as Wednesday, Kwong said. If the ordinance passes, it will be up the council – on the advice of the city attorney whether the changes should apply to the Nestlé plant, where construction began last month, according to Kwong.
Environmental concerns and complaints that the Nestlé plant was approved without broader input led Councilman Kevin McCarty, whose district includes the facility, to call for the council discussion on stricter permits. Councilwoman Lauren Hammond also urged the discussion.
Nestlé completed the first phase of its construction on Oct. 7 and was given the authority to begin a second phase, including plumbing and electrical work, according to building officials. A third phase is pending.
Both Kwong and O’Rourke said Nestlé has complied with its permits.
City officials have said the Nestlé plant could draw an estimated 80 million gallons of water a year – or about two-tenths of a percent of the city’s total water consumption.
But Nestlé officials said the amount of water drawn from the city water system will be closer to 30 million gallons next year. Another 20 million gallons of spring water will be trucked to the facility from sources in Placer, El Dorado, Tuolumne and Napa counties.
City staff said the Nestlé plant did not require special permits because it is being built in an area already zoned for industrial use.
There were no public hearings held in connection with the Nestlé plant, which was approved by staff in the Community Development Department.
McCarty said he went to the plant on Monday with a camera and that "major work" appeared to have been completed.
"I have concerns after what we saw in North Natomas that we want to make sure all permits were authorized appropriately, no special treatment was given and the correct permits were in place to do the work," McCarty said.
An investigation is under way into a series of permits that were issued by a development department supervisor to allow for new-home construction in the Natomas flood zone, an apparent violation of a federally mandated building moratorium.
McCarty said he also maintains concerns about the Nestlé plant’s environmental impact.
"Water is increasingly valuable, and we want to make sure we’re making smart decisions," he said.
