Article Watch: “Small Towns vs Nestle” Suggests Not Everyone’s Happy When Nestle Waters Shows UP
While Nestle and the IBWA (bottled water association, dominated largely by Nestle) are in the midst of a major charm offensive (well, semi-charming if you’re not on their Christmas Card list), small rural towns are starting to recognize the hazards of getting involved with the Swiss multinational:
Small Towns vs. Nestlé — In These Times
When Nestlé Waters North America, the world’s largest bottler of water, comes a-courting, promising jobs and increased tax revenues in exchange for local water rights, many small, rural towns get nervous.Deborah Lapidus, an organizer with the Think Outside the Bottle campaign, says this skepticism stems from Henderson, Texas, which in the ’90s saw Nestlé suck one of its wells dry.
“The company prioritizes its own use over the environment and other uses,” says Lapidus.
As well as draining water, Nestlé also attempts to deplete these communities’ finances, Lapidus says. Towns trying to defend their reservoirs have found themselves in costly legal battles. Fryeburg, Maine, for example, has been sued five times by Nestlé for “interfering with the right to grow their market share.”
I can assure you that Nestle – who has finally been forced to defend its actions in other small towns (instead of simply ignoring their transgressions) – does not like to be held accountable at this level.
Whether a determined bunch of citizen activists can finally force a bad corporation to mend its ways is questionable (how long has that infant formula boycott been in place), but perhaps Nestle can be forced to answer a few questions along the way.
