{"id":44037,"date":"2017-10-28T08:56:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-28T08:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theaegisalliance.com\/home2\/theaegis\/WP\/?p=44037"},"modified":"2026-08-26T05:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:47:17","slug":"nestle-caught-extracting-water-from-canadian-towns-on-expired-permits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/2017\/10\/28\/nestle-sorpresa-a-prelevare-acqua-da-citta-canadesi-con-permessi-scaduti\/","title":{"rendered":"Nestl\u00e9 Exposed Extracting Water From Canadian Towns on Expired Permits \u2014 and How Residents Pushed Them Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_51096\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" data-facadesrc=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4qydYA1LTsc?enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=0&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" data-epautoplay=\"1\" ><img decoding=\"async\" data-spai-excluded=\"true\" class=\"epyt-facade-poster skip-lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"Environmentalists want Nestl\u00e9 to stop water-taking in Ontario town amid drought\"  src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/4qydYA1LTsc\/maxresdefault.jpg\"  \/><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\" aria-label=\"Play\"><svg data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"100%\" version=\"1.1\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\" width=\"100%\"><path class=\"ytp-large-play-button-bg\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\" fill=\"#f00\"><\/path><path d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\" fill=\"#fff\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Nestl\u00e9, long the largest bottled-water producer in the world, was exposed for drawing groundwater from <a href=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/2024\/12\/26\/cocaine-worth-1-1m-discovered-in-backpacks-in-woods-near-us-border\/\">Canadian<\/a> towns on permits that had already expired. The situation outraged residents and environmentalists, who accused the Ontario government of letting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2016\/nov\/05\/michigan-nestle-water-extraction-residents\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nestl\u00e9 continue to profit<\/a> off a shared public resource while generating enormous volumes of single-use plastic waste.<\/p>\n<p>Nestl\u00e9 defended itself by pointing to the tens of thousands of dollars it donated to the towns hosting its wells and bottling plants, and it blamed the Ontario government for making what it called &#8220;complicated changes&#8221; to water-management rules. The company said it was amending its Permit to Take Water applications to comply with the new technical requirements.<\/p>\n<p>This was not the first time the company had operated this way. Nestl\u00e9 had a documented <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/nestles-california-water-permit-expired-27-years-ago-321940\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">history of bottling water on expired permits<\/a>, most notably <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-36161580\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in drought-stricken California<\/a>, where as of 2015 it had been extracting water from the San Bernardino National Forest on a permit that had lapsed 27 years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>In Ontario, meanwhile, the company was pumping millions of litres of groundwater every day from wells near the towns of Aberfoyle (in Puslinch) and Erin \u2014 its Aberfoyle plant alone was permitted to take up to 3.6 million litres a day \u2014 frequently faster than local aquifers could recharge.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>Although Nestl\u00e9&#8217;s Aberfoyle and Erin permits have expired, they are deemed to stay in force, and operations can continue until the ministry makes a decision on the renewal application<\/em>,&#8221; Gary Wheeler, an Ontario government spokesperson, told <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vice.com\/story\/nestle-is-extracting-water-from-canadian-towns-on-expired-permits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">VICE News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Sand-River-Ontario-Canada.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-44069 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Sand-River-Ontario-Canada-1024x874.jpg\" alt=\"Rushing white water cascades over rocky terrain in a scenic natural setting, likely a Canadian waterfall. The image captures the power of water and the beauty of natural resources.\" width=\"810\" height=\"691\" \/><\/a>Sand River, Ontario, Canada<\/p>\n<p>The friction in Wellington County had been building for years. A local hydrogeologist working with the grassroots group Wellington Water Watchers reported that the Guelph-area aquifer had dropped roughly 1.5 metres between 2011 and 2015 \u2014 a stretch during which Nestl\u00e9 increased its pumping by about a third \u2014 and the controversy boiled over in the drought summer of 2016, when Guelph residents faced fines for watering their lawns while the bottling line kept running. Residents demanded that the government impose higher levies on large extractors and do far more to protect natural resources, warning that demand for water was climbing alongside population growth.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>It&#8217;s a classic conflict of the demands of the few outweighing the demands of the many<\/em>,&#8221; said Mike Nagy, an <a href=\"https:\/\/shop.theaegisalliance.com\">activist<\/a> and consultant with Wellington Water Watchers.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the public pressure, the province moved to hold large bottlers more accountable. In 2016 Ontario sharply raised the fee corporations pay to extract groundwater \u2014 from less than $4 per million litres to $503.71 per million litres \u2014 and imposed a moratorium on new and expanded water-bottling permits, a freeze that was repeatedly extended in the years that followed.<\/p>\n<p>Gary Wheeler said the higher charge was &#8220;<em>expected to recover a significant portion of the province&#8217;s costs of managing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/americans-drink-more-bottled-water-than-soda-2017-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">groundwater taken by water bottlers<\/a>, including supporting scientific research, policies, outreach and compliance.<\/em>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Crystal-Falls-Ontario-Canada.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-44070 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Crystal-Falls-Ontario-Canada-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A cascading waterfall plunges down a rocky, dark-colored cliff face, creating a dramatic display of white water and spray. The scene is set in a lush, green forest environment, with trees visible at the top.\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a>Crystal Falls, Ontario, Canada<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Nestl\u00e9 Walks Away From Canada<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The sustained community resistance ultimately paid off. In July 2020, Nestl\u00e9 announced it would exit the Canadian bottled-water business entirely, saying it wanted to focus on premium international brands such as San Pellegrino, Perrier, and Acqua Panna. Its first attempt to sell the Pure Life operation \u2014 including the Aberfoyle plant, the Erin well, and the contested Middlebrook well it had bought near Elora in 2016 over fierce local opposition \u2014 was to the Ontario company Ice River Springs, but that deal collapsed in September 2020 when it failed to clear the Competition Bureau in time.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, in February 2021, Nestl\u00e9 sold its entire North American water business \u2014 Nestl\u00e9 Waters North America, encompassing Pure Life, Poland Spring, Deer Park, and Ice Mountain \u2014 to the private-equity firm One Rock Capital Partners for roughly $4.3 billion. The new owner rebranded the operation as BlueTriton. That ownership churn was far from over: BlueTriton announced in late 2024 that it would merge with Florida-based Primo Water and wind down its Ontario operations by the end of January 2025. The Aberfoyle and Erin properties and their water-taking permits then passed in 2025 to White Wolf Property Management, a Shelburne firm tied to the Gott family that also owns Ice River Springs, which paid more than $61 million for the former Nestl\u00e9 site.<\/p>\n<p>Water campaigners scored a more direct victory at the third, never-used well. After years of advocacy by Wellington Water Watchers and the Council of Canadians, the township of Centre Wellington purchased the Elora\/Middlebrook well in April 2025 for a reported $1.8 million, returning it to public hands rather than leaving it available for future commercial bottling.<\/p>\n<p>A clean, permanent resolution remains elusive \u2014 the renewed permits still authorize taking up to roughly 3.6 million litres a day at Aberfoyle and 1.1 million litres a day at Erin, and activists argue that bottling public groundwater for private profit is never sustainable regardless of which corporation holds the license. But the saga stands as a reminder of what organized residents can accomplish: a multinational that once pumped Ontario&#8217;s aquifers on lapsed permits has been pushed out of the country, and at least one well has been reclaimed for the communities that depend on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nestl\u00e9 pumped Ontario groundwater on expired permits until residents forced it out. BlueTriton closed Aberfoyle in 2025. Centre Wellington bought the Elora well back for $1.8 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[191911,23,21],"tags":[188865,187990,166,205401],"class_list":["post-44037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-international-news","category-news","tag-canada","tag-nestle","tag-water","tag-water-is-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/nestle.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44037"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198228,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44037\/revisions\/1198228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}