The Thursday night session in the Nestlé Waters North America 1041 permit hearing began with the opposition group responding to County Commissioners’ questions and ended with Nestlé representatives responding to comments opposing the permit.
The Nestlé Waters North America 1041 permit hearing continued Thursday morning and evening with a majority of speakers expressing opposition to a permit extension.
Chaffee County Commissioners will accept additional public comments about Nestle Waters North America’s 1041 permit extension at 9 am and 5 pm today.
The Nestlé Waters North America 1041 permit hearing opened Tuesday, Oct. 20, with a 6-hour session and testimony by county staff members, county consultants, various stakeholder agencies, Nestlé representatives, and members of Unbottle and Protect Chaffee County Water LLC.
Chaffee County Commissioners agreed to move ahead with the Nestlé Waters North America public hearing scheduled for Oct. 20 and 22 but decided to further limit in-person attendance due to increasing numbers of local COVID-19 cases.
“Operation of the Nestlé Waters North America wells has not caused progressive depletion of the groundwater resources of Chaffee County,” according to a recent report by Gary Thompson, principal of W. W. Wheeler and Associates.
Chaffee County Commissioners agreed to allow an opposition group “up to one hour” to present its case against approval of the Nestlé Waters North America 1041 permit extension.
Over the past 20-plus years I have written many articles on water rights and water allocation in Colorado.
As the Chaffee County Commissioners prepare to consider extending Nestlé Waters North America’s 1041 permit, Delia Malone, an ecologist with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, takes issue with Nestlé’s dismissal of “a warming climate and its impact on water resources”
Chaffee County Commissioners decided at their recent meeting to schedule the Nestlé Waters North America 1041 permit hearing at 5 p.m. Oct. 20 and 9 a.m. Oct. 22 at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds in Poncha Springs.