The film “Bottled Life,” screened by the Environment Committee on June 9, focuses on Nestlé. I wonder how Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who has been quoted as saying he believes “access to water is not a public right,” can sleep at night knowing the hardships his company causes people around the world. 

The town of Bhati Dilwan in Pakistan, where Nestlé has a bottling plant, is a good example. Since the aquifer there is being depleted, Nestlé has dug their wells deeper to get more water. Local residents don’t have the money to dig deeper wells; with the water table dropping, their water supply no longer potable, they asked Nestlé to provide a water line so the local town could access their own clean water. Nestlé refused.

Nestlé advertises that they provide clean water to refugees at the United Nations’ Kebribeyah refugee camp in Ethiopia. They once did provide water, but stopped years ago, according to residents.

Nestlé, a Swiss company, has 70 different brands of bottled water and controls one-third of the U.S. market, drawing water from 75 different springs across the country. Nestlé is especially interested in Maine. The film focuses on Fryeburg, Maine’s fight to stop Nestlé from drawing water there. Not only did the Maine Public Utilities Commission approve a 25-year contract, but extended it for up to 45 years. Three of the PUC commissioners had business involvement with Nestlé prior to their appointments. Since Nestlé gets the water free, the company has refurbished a playground and helped in other small ways, while reaping millions of dollars from their bottling plant.

Two Maine towns, Shapleigh and Newfield, were able to stop Nestlé thanks to a grassroots campaign led by a few women who noticed Nestlé testing wells in a wildlife area. The women relayed their concerns to the town officials, who dismissed them. So the women began a campaign of educating the public. When refused a town meeting, they held their own. Residents in both Shapleigh and the neighboring town of Newfield eventually passed ordinances that asserted the right of townspeople to control their own water and to prohibit commercial water extraction.

A lively discussion followed the movie in which Co-op members in attendance were in agreement that they did not want Weavers Way to sell products like Pellegrino soda, a Nestlé brand. We wish to join in solidarity with those communities who are opposing Nestlé.