Ice River Springs Water is shaping up to be a boon to industrial employment in Shelburne, but there’s a move afoot to bring commercial water-taking under a microscope.

The public’s right to water is under debate at the United Nations and, here in Dufferin, a longtime Amaranth resident’s letter of concern over water-taking has been endorsed by township council but “received” by Shelburne council.

Not all local water-bottling businesses provide local employment. But Ice River is an exception as it bottles locally, employs about 175 in Feversham, and is establishing a recycling plant in Shelburne that’s expected to employ as many as 60 in the near future.

In Amaranth, Fernbrook used to have a full-time staff there, and used locally owned trucks to ship to markets, but now trucks all the water to its bottling plant in Halton. Similarly, Nestle draws much of its water in Erin but trucks it to its plant at Aberfoyle.

According to Ministry of Environment records, the three water-bottling companies – Nestle, Fernbrook and Ice River – are permitted to take a combined maximum of about 855 million litres daily (LPD) from aquifers in Grey Highlands, Amaranth and Wellington County.

Nestle is the largest of the three. It can pump 3.6 million litres from its Puslinch (Aberfoyle) well, plus about 1.1 million from Erin. At Erin, a citizen group is opposed to a proposed move of the current well.

Ice River (Gott Enterprises) is permitted to take about 3.3 million LPD at Feversham. Fernbrook is a small player by comparison, permitted to take a maximum of 654,000 LPD in total from a combination of its three wells.

None of the three companies consistently takes the maximum allowable quantities. The actual taking can be verified but, generally, these would be in the less-than 60 per cent range, according to interviews with company officials.

At Ice River, Sandy Gott said that on an annualized basis the company takes something like 25 per cent. The site, she said, used to be a trout farm which was taking more water from the existing wells over a 25-year period than is being taken now.

Whatever the percentage is, Amaranth Township council and resident Remo Odoreko are questioning why commercial interests should be permitted to take any whatsoever without compensation to the municipality – although each pays an annual fee to the province.

Oddly, although fresh Canadian water cannot be exported in bulk, much of the bottled water is exported to the U.S. as a “manufactured product.” The rules on exporting are so rigid that, a few years ago, a Detroit daily newspaper featured the sharing of a water supply between Coutts, Alta., and Sweetgrass, Mont. It seems the Detroit writer marvelled that he was drinking Canadian Club on Canadian rocks in a Montana pub.

At Amaranth, Mr. Odorico – the brother-inlaw of Gus Mitges – poses the question: “What are you going to drink when the water runs out?”

In a letter of concern addressed to Premier Dalton McGuinty and many other politicians, he introduces himself as a 47- year firefighter and a proud retired member of the community.

He says water levels in area wells has been dropping, and local councils “don’t seem to be aware of the stark reality of the water situation. To the best of my knowledge there are no dedicated, wellinformed committees determined to make watertaking their locale responsibility.”

He continues that Ontario could face another Level III drought, and the farmers could be faced with no water for their livestock while families are forced to spend vast amounts of money to redrill their wells.

Mr. Odorico’s concerns come at a time when the United Nations is debating the principle of a public right to water. In the Third World, much of the water supply has been privatized.