The Wellington Water Watchers unveiled a billboard Monday with a loud message in its fight against Nestlé Waters Canada.
“Water is for life, not for profit. Say no to Nestlé in Wellington County wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca,” reads the billboard with an image of a young girl drinking tap water and a crossed-out plastic water bottle.
The billboard is just north of Nestlé's bottling plant in Aberfoyle on 2162 Gordon St.
As Nestlé’s permit to pump 3.6 million litres of water per day in Aberfoyle is coming to end, they are expected to soon apply for its renewal.
The billboard aims to get the attention of the public so they can go directly to the Wellington Water Watcher’s website.
“This is a great location because it is right on Highway 6. It’s perfect because its a lot of traffic that goes up and down,” says board member of Wellington Water Watchers Karen Rathwell.
Rathwell says she wants as many people as possible to see the board.
“This message is loud and clear in this area in Wellington County and Guelph. We have to say no we have to keep our water for generations to come,” says Rathwell.
“Water is for life, it's not for profit so that's the mindset we have to change and we need to protect it.”
In a press release, chair of Wellington Water Watchers Dr. Robert Case says the Government of Ontario is ignoring important issues when reviewing Nestlé’s application to renew their permits to extract water.
“An environmental assessment is necessary to allow full public debate of all the social and environmental impacts of water bottling,” says Case.
