Battle begins over water rights; Town wants to regain control of Wekepeke.Byline: Jean Laquidara Hill STERLING - Residents opposed to Nestle Waters of North America's proposal to pump water from the Wekepeke aquifer aquifer (ăk`wĭfər): see artesian well. aquifer In hydrology, a rock layer or sequence that contains water and releases it in appreciable amounts. and sell it as bottled water are following the example of some New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). residents who took control of their town's water and other resources. After a two-hour meeting last night, residents decided to hold a Democracy School no later than April. A Democracy School is a session of classes designed to teach residents how other Americans, dating back to the early settlers, have exercised their rights. The Wekepeke Reservoir is in Sterling but it has been owned by the town of Clinton since about 1882 when it became that town's drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. supply. The water supply was later replaced by Wachusett Reservoir Wachusett Reservoir (wôch  `sĭt), on the South Branch of the Nashua River, central Mass., NE of Worcester; built 1897–1905. , but Clinton has retained ownership.
Clinton officials have been negotiating with Nestle Waters of North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. to pump water from the Wekepeke aquifer, which feeds the Wekepeke Reservoir, for bottled water that it sells internationally. About 30 residents gathered at the 1835 Town Hall last night to listen to Gail O. Darrell of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund in Barnstead, N.H., which has passed such an ordinance; Gail A. Mills of the Nottingham Tea Party, which is about to bring a similar ordinance to a town meeting vote; and to Ellen J. Hayes, director of Advocates for Community Empowerment, who helped the New Hampshire towns in their quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the local control. Asked by Ms. Hayes what their concerns were, residents said they fear the loss of water would mean losing a means for sustaining a local food supply; that they want to preserve the water supply for future generations and for local wildlife; and that the traffic from Nestle company trucks would deteriorate local roads and infringe in·fringe v. in·fringed, in·fring·ing, in·fring·es v.tr. 1. To transgress or exceed the limits of; violate: infringe a contract; infringe a patent. 2. on the rural quality of their town. Selectman se·lect·man n. One of a board of town officers chosen annually in New England communities to manage local affairs. Noun 1. selectman - an elected member of a board of officials who run New England towns Richard Sheppard Richard Sheppard is the name of:
Ms. Hayes said the issue is not preventing a corporation from doing business in town. The issue, she said, is making sure Sterling residents have a voice in what happens to their town. Under state law, she told the audience, the state Department of Environmental Protection has the authority to grant permits for water extraction, but has little authority not to issue a permit if the two-page application is complete. Because town residents do not own the land or water, they would have no standing - that is no right to be heard - in a court if they appeal the issuance of the permit, Ms. Hayes said. "Communities cannot say no to a permitted use," said Ms. Hayes. The answer, she said, is for people to assert rights to local control as residents have done in Pennsylvania and Barnstead, N.H., and are trying to do in Nottingham, N.H., as USA Springs builds its water extraction plant. It was Nottingham's losing six-year struggle that ended with USA Springs getting permits to operate, that prompted Ms. Darrell to get an ordinance drafted banning corporations from withdrawing water from the town of Barnstead. Barnstead voters adopted the ordinance at a town meeting. Maryann MacLeod of Sterling, who was an organizer of last night's meeting, said she and many other residents opposed to the Nestle proposal will go all the way to halt that company's plans and make sure no corporation will take local water and use it for profit. "We've got many steps because what we found out tonight is that this process is many steps along the way," she said after learning from a Sterling Conservation Commission member that Nestle has started pump testing at the aquifer. "We are going to have the Democracy School. We are moving ahead in this because I personally know most of the people in town do not want this," Ms. MacLeod said after the meeting. Ms. MacLeod said people from neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. communities will be invited. "We are going to draft an ordinance, a legal ordinance," she said. "We're going all the way with this." |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion