The sign at the road that used to advertise employment opportunities at Fernbrook Spring Water south of Shelburne no longer offers jobs, and further along County Road 11 where several tractor trailer units used to be parked at the James and Fran Braiden farm, there are no longer any trucks in evidence.

The view of Fernbrook from Amaranth Sideroad 25 used to include, almost consistently, one or more transport trucks at the loading docks plus several private motor vehicles in the parking lot. Now, three huge stainless steel tanks rest beside a loading dock.

Last Thursday, the only vehicles in sight were a Hydro One truck, a Highlands Electric 1/2-ton van, and one pickup truck.

Across the road, neighbour Kenrick Mirandar suggested a night-time visit when, he said, there would be one tanker truck parked outside Fernbrook's building - or at 6 or 6:30 a.m. when there might be a second tanker. Water evidently is being pumped into tankers and transported elsewhere for bottling.

Despite a lack of notification to the township or anyone else, the water is being pumped legally. Fernbrook's permit was quietly issued for a threeyear period on Dec. 31, 2007.

It provides, as before, for extraction of 100 gallons per minute.

The Braidens used to haul bottled water for Fernbrook and, reportedly, had built their fleet of semis to about six. They have not been available for an interview, but a neighbourhood source thought they'd sold their fleet when Bob Elliott bought Fernbrook from founder Irving Newman last year.

Mr. Mirandar used to deliver bottled water to retail outlets for Fernbrook but no longer does. He had the impression that water is no longer being bottled at the Amaranth plant.

What is happening at Fernbrook? Mr. Elliott had a curt answer when finally contacted by telephone last week: "I am a private company. It's none of your business."

But surely rumours of a 10-year water-taking permit and loss of employment were of public business?

He replied that he didn't know where the rumour came from, reiterating what he had said last year: that he would be pleased with two-year permits, which the plant had held before.

Mr. Elliott's application in November might not agree with his assertion. The Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights website said the applicant "has requested a length of taking water for indefinite period of time. Ministry of the Environment can issue a Permit to Take Water for a maximum period of time for up to 10 years."

The reference is to an application to take 454 litres per minute in total from the three wells, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The combined daily maximum volume would be 654,000 litres, according to the application. (Converted volumes would be 100 gallons per minute - 60,000 an hour or 144,000 gallons a day. By comparison, the 1,700 residents of the village of Grand Valley at latest available count were using 58,000 gallons a day. Shelburne's 5,200 residents use between 300,000 and 400,000 gallons per day, according to the town office. The 116 homes on the water system in Waldemar use 90,000 to 100,000 litres per day, a fraction of what Fernbrook is permitted to take.)