Abel Russ

November 8, 2008

Poland Spring was born when a health spa in Poland Spring, Maine started bottling water in 1845. The company is now owned by Nestle and currently pumps roughly 700 million gallons per year from several Maine sources. Nestle is always looking for more water in the southwest corner of the state, but Maine towns have become increasingly vocal and organized in their opposition to the idea.

Nestle has been pumping water from the town of Fryeburg, on the New Hampshire border, since 2003. In 2005 they asked the town for permission to build a new trucking facility, one that would load up to 50 tanker trucks per day. The Fryeburg planning board initially supported the proposal, but in 2007 voted 3-1 to deny it based on that fact that it would constitute a high-impact use in a low-impact rural residential zone. Nestle appealed and lost in Maine Superior Court in July of this year.

On September 21, the town of Shapleigh passed a six-month moratorium on large-scale extraction of water or testing related to extraction, by a vote of 204-38, in order to give the town time to write a regulatory ordinance. Shapleigh also voted to deny Poland Spring access to town land by a vote of 183-49.

The Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District serves several towns on Maine's southern coast. The Water District had been considering a plan to sell water to Poland Spring, but over the summer decided to table the deal in the face of public protest. Two towns in the water district ended up with questions on the November 4 ballot. The town of Wells asked voters to pass a temporary moratorium similar to that passed by Shapleigh voters: "Shall the Town approve "An ordinance to enact a moratorium, pursuant to 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4356, on activities involving large-scale water extraction and/or testing in anticipation of large-scale water extraction on public, private, and state land in the Town of Wells until a comprehensive water extraction ordinance has been developed and approved by voters?" The cited state law limits municipal permit and license moratoria to 180 days. The town select board had already approved the measure 3-2, and the town followed with a vote of 3,341-2,194. The town of Ogunquit, just south of Wells, had a nonbinding question on their ballot: "Do you favor a prohibition on the sale of water by the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport & Wells Water District for resale as bottled water?" Ogunquit voters supported the prohibition by a vote of 617-229.

The resistance to water extraction seems to be based on a mixture of concerns including groundwater sustainability, environmental effects of producing and transporting bottled water, opposition to global water privatization, and the maintenance of local control of natural resources. All of these concerns link Maine communities with their neighbors in New Hampshire, Vermont, and elsewhere, and the message from southern Maine is clear: they don't want to sell their water to Nestle.

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Edward D. Murphy, Shapleigh voters turn down Poland Spring, Portland Press Herald, September 21, 2008, at A5.

Casey Conley, International bottler to appeal ruling on trucking terminal to Supreme Court, Conway Sun, August 7, 2008.

WCSH, Maine local election results, http://www.wcsh6.com/news/elections/story.aspx?storyid=95339

Wells, Maine warrant and election results, http://www.wellstown.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={3FC4D80A-7C0D-426F-A40C-439D869F6E0E}&DE=

Ogunquit, Maine election results, http://www.townofogunquit.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={EB546FB3-5742-409E-8659FACD301BF2D5}

Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District, Water District to Consider Tabling Further Action on Agreement with Poland Spring, http://www.kkw.org/aboutkkwwd/archive/080714a.html