No Nestlé, Bottled Water Is Not an ‘Essential Public Service,’ Court Says

Bottles of mineral water are pictured in a Nestlé water bottling plant located in Castrocielo, central Italy, on July 5, 2016. GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP / Getty Images Nestlé cannot claim that its Ice Mountain bottled water brand is an essential public service, according to Michigan’s second highest court, which delivered a legal blow to the food and beverage giant in a unanimous decision. The three-judge panel that sits on Michigan’s Court of Appeals said bottled water is not a public water supply, and Osceola Township was completely within its rights to reject Nestlé’s bid to put a booster pumping structure in an area zoned for agricultural use, as the Detroit Free Press reported. "The circuit court’s conclusion that [Nestlé’s] commercial water bottling operation is an ‘essential public service’ is clearly erroneous," the judges wrote, as The Guardian reported. "Other than in areas with no other source of water, bottled water is not essential." The issue in question is that Nestlé wants to increase the amount of water it takes from the groundwater in Michigan’s Osceola County from 250 gallons per minute to 400 gallons per minute. Environmental groups say the 250 gallons per minute that Nestlé takes from […]

Click here to view original web page at No Nestlé, Bottled Water Is Not an ‘Essential Public Service,’ Court Says