A proposal to establish a spring water bottling operation in rural Langlade County has been tabled by its applicant.  Dennis Hose, who owns Trout Haven Hatchery (the state's largest private trout farm), had announced plans for the facility last March.  Hose lives near Polar - about 10 miles east of Antigo. 

Hose had requested a zoning change (from agriculture to commercial) on 2 acres of his 40 acre parcel from the Polar Town Board.  He was also seeking a high-capacity well permit from the DNR.  Hose indicated that he wanted to bottle 6000 gallons a day of water, in 20 oz. containers, from groundwater under his land. 

Hose now says the proposal has been "put on hold."  For the moment, he explains, he's "got too many irons in the fire."  But he plans to take another look at the bottling scheme when his hatchery work slows done after Labor Day.          

The proposal had raised concerns from a number of area residents who wondered if a Perrier style bottling operation lurked in the plan's ambiguous details.  Mike Kimoski, of the Green Bay Chapter of Trout Unlimited, noted that Hose's proposed pump for the bottling operation would extract 500 gallons per minute.  In only 12 minutes, he observed, the 6000 gallon quota would be withdrawn from the ground. 

Hose's hatchery already is permitted for the use of 10 pumps that allow him to pull up to 2.8 million gallons/day of water.  Hose told town officials that he would close7 of the existing 10 wells if he got a permit for the new 500 gal/minute pump. 

The potential environmental impact of the hatchery and a bottling operation are rather different.  All of the water used by the trout farm is currently recycled back into into local aquifers.  A possible water bottling operation would instead move water out of the watershed and could potentially impact surrounding water levels and habitats. 

"In the state of Wisconsin, we have no groundwater protection in place," says local resident Lori Regni.  She calls for an environmental impact study to assess the effect of the proposed high-capacity well on area wetlands, lakes and streams.  Regni mentions that water resources, even in Wisconsin, are finite.  She wants future users and needs to be considered, as well. 

The DNR's Dave Seibel says he understands that Hose has withdrawn his rezoning application to the town board.  In his discussions with the DNR, Hose had indicated that he wanted to truck the water pumped from his land elsewhere for bottling.  Seibel says limits on the volume of truck traffic and the amount of water that could be pumped were regulatory safeguards that were being discussed by local and state officials.   

For his part, Hose sounds exasperated.  "There's so many obstacles in the road," he says.  "It's pathetic." 

- Will Fantle

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