Perils on the angler's horizon:
Perrier wants our water

Unless something is done quickly about antiquated groundwater laws, fishermen may wake up one day to find that their favorite fishing stream no longer contains the healthy populations of trout it once did because it has been robbed of huge quantities of cold, pure water.

While millions of anglers everywhere are practicing catch-and-release in order to protect and sustain our present fish stocks, Perrier (now called Nestle Waters of North America) feels it has the right to set up shop, extract up to 750,000 gallons of water per pump per day from environmentally sensitive streams and establish huge bottling plants at nearby pastoral lands. The Swiss-based mega-conglomerate, the largest food corporation in the world, has unlimited resources, and has captured almost one-third of the bottled water business in the U.S.

Because we continue to uncap and drink huge quantities of bottled water, in such incredible amounts that it is about to surpass beer, milk and coffee consumption, bottlers all over the world are giddy as they accumulate incredible profits. The profits are enormous, because bottlers are able to extract water for free.

Today, bottled water consumption is so profitable, so insulated, that it makes illegal drug trafficking a poor second on the profitability chart. First, the bottlers are obtaining the product for free, not so in the case of illegal drug marketers; second, the bottlers can operate legally and enjoy most of the public's blessing; third, they were invited and courted by some states to extract public waters (e.g., Wisconsin and Michigan by former governors) without informing or consulting the local people.

"Here, come and take our water for free, bottled it and sell it back to us. We'll help you, And don't worry about the Department of Natural Resources...wink wink."-seemed to be Wisconsin's message in 2000 when Forward Wisconsin even paid the air transportation for Perrier executives.

"We'll give you $10 million in incentives ...and you don't have to pay any school taxes, for twelve years..." Michigan offered.

Executives in the stately boardroom of Nestle in Switzerland must have been high-fiving and breaking out the bottles of cognac in continuous celebrations as these offers continued.

How is Perrier able to muscle itself into prime pristine areas? It dangles substantial political contributions at the right places (at least one governor's office), it promises jobs and construction of plants, it works out secret deals and only when the pieces are basically in place, does it announces its plans to the surprised, unprepared local citizens.

Blame must also be placed on most states, because they still have antiquated groundwater laws, some which date to the early 1900s, when groundwater was considered to be "mystic" and even "evil." This allows companies, such as Perrier, to obtain a high-cap permit for about $100 a year in Wisconsin, and start pumping water and profits.