3/21/01

Perrier's proposed bulk water bottling operation in Adams County is five times larger than any other such operation in Wisconsin.  It would pump up to 500 gallons a minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from the groundwater feeding Big Springs, just east of the Wisconsin Dells.  In total, 270 million gallons of water a year could be drained from springs in the town of New Haven for bottling under Perrier's Ice Mountain label.

But Perrier, for its part, sees their operation as a drop in the bucket.  "We are talking about a project that would use 1/100th of the groundwater used in the state," says company spokesperson Jane Lazgin.

At present, Perrier is treading water while the state Department of Natural Resources continues to analyze the results of field tests conducted in Adams County last November.  That process, which also involves Perrier's consultants and the U.S. Geological Survey, is expected to be completed by late March.

If the results are encouraging, the company's next step, says Lazgin, "would be applying for zoning for the plant site."

The impact study involved two test wells near Big Springs that pumped water at 1,000 gallons per minute, twice Perrier's proposed production rate. DNR employee Scott Ironside, who helped monitor the test, says the DNR wanted to observe the effect on the groundwater table and associated waters.

During the second week of testing, Ironside was notified that the water flow in the upper tributary to Big Spring Creek had shrunk 38%, despite an all-day rain two days earlier.  Ironside went to the site the next day; by then, the stream's flow was down 45%.  According to Ironside's field notes, "the flow reduction was very obvious to the eye."

When the field tests ended three days later, as planned, the trout-spawning areas in the creek known as redds were still covered by water.  Still, says Ironside, "that type of dropping of the creek would not be acceptable for the long term."

But even if Perrier receives the green light from the DNR, it faces stiff opposition in Adams County, where residents fear the plan's impact on their rural lifestyle and waters associated with Big Springs.  "We're fighting a big battle," says Hiroshi Kanno, the treasurer of Concerned Citizens of Newport, one of two local opposition groups.

While field tests were underway last fall, Kanno and other project foes urged the Adams County Board to pass a resolution opposing any large-scale extraction of spring water at or near Big Springs, or from any other body of water, stream or aquifer in Adams County.  The measure passed, 14-3.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson, who actively courted and invited Perrier into Wisconsin, has now left the building.  His successor, Scott McCallum, seems far more skeptical of Perrier's project. McCallum has reportedly directed his new DNR secretary, Darrell Bazzell, to oppose Perrier's Adams County project.

Lazgin says Perrier has not heard anything directly from McCallum.  "We would certainly like to meet with him," she says.

Voices outside Wisconsin, who have seen Perrier up-close, advise resistance.  "Don't let them get their foot in the door. Get them out," says Florida resident Brad Willis, vice president of Save Our Springs, which has been fighting Perrier at several locations in the gator state.

Perrier has been pumping and bottling water from Crystal Spring, near Orlando, for the past five years.  Once the company gained control of the site, says Willis, it fenced, gated and locked out the public which had enjoyed access to the crystal clear, cobalt blue springs for generations.

"Perrier," observes Willis, "does not have respect for local people or their cultures."

According to Willis, the water level in Crystal Spring has "dropped severely." As proof, he offers photos posted on the group's Web site.  "They are destroying that spring," Willis charges.

But Perrier spokesperson Lazgin blames any changes in the spring on Florida's recent dry spell and the "tremendous amount of building and growth" occurring in the area.

At another Florida site, Rainbow Spring, Perrier is locked in a battle with citizens and local officials.  The company wants to pump and bottle water from the turquoise blue Rainbow River fed by the spring.  Perrier has successfully overturned local zoning denials in court.

Residents near Rohr Spring in rural northeast Texas have also been fighting Perrier. Five years ago the company leased land from an absentee landlord and began pumping water.  "They're here to take all the water they can," says local resident Dale Groom.  "Five days after they started pumping, a neighbor's well across the road [from the site] went dry."

Lazgin describes the impacted well as old and shallow and says it had no relationship to the aquifer Perrier was pumping.  The dispute over this well went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Perrier, endorsing a right called "the rule of capture."  Groom translates this to mean, "He who has the biggest pump wins."

Groom's 620 foot deep well hasn't yet shown any problems but he's very worried that his aquifer will be mined and depleted.  And he's upset by Perrier's conduct at the site.  "Jane Lazgin sat here on our couch and told us that they would only run trucks during the day."  The trucks carrying the spring water to Fort Worth for bottling, he notes, run round the clock.  "The bottom line," adds Groom, "is they lie.  They are not folks to be believed."

The Perrier controversy has heightened awareness about the sustainability of Wisconsin's groundwater supplies. Once viewed as a vast, limitless resource, groundwater is being guzzled by thirsty municipalities and agricultural operations at levels that, in many places, exceed the natural recharge rate.

Groundwater is the dominant source stoking the state's many lakes and rivers and is the water source for 97% of Wisconsin's municipalities.  Some larger communities--such as Milwaukee, Green Bay and Superior--pump their water from the Great Lakes, but three out of four homes across the state still get their water from the ground.

High capacity wells, like the ones proposed by Perrier and used by municipalities and agriculture, "intercept" groundwater flows and siphon it away from traditional destinations, says UW-Stevens Point professor and groundwater expert George Kraft. The results can be devastating.

For illustration, Kraft mentions the impact of two new municipal wells installed by the Village of Plover (next to Stevens Point).  He predicts the new wells will cut in half the flow of the Little Plover River - which winds through a state fishery area - over the next 10 to 15 years.  "This will essentially kill it as a neat little resource," Kraft says

Similar impacts are already apparent in the Madison area, where the water supply comes from municipal wells. According to the DNR's Roger Bannerman, 40 streams once fed Lake Wingra.  Only a half-dozen remain; the rest, says Bannerman, have "all dried up."  Moreover, he forecasts, "a number of streams around Madison are going to lose their flow over the next 20 years."

One culprit is sprawl. Urbanization places more concrete and other impervious surfaces across the landscape, preventing rain and snow from soaking into the ground.  "It's a serious problem," says Bannerman, who is helping write new DNR rules requiring builders to capture run-off and maintain 90% of pre-development water infiltration levels.

Kraft has his own idea for how state regulators and legislators should approach rising groundwater concerns:  "Adopt the 1890s' mentality that groundwater and surface water are connected." After all, they are.