Clean drinking water

is our inheritance.

You can't put a price on it.

Welcome. Wellington Water Watchers is dedicated to the protection, restoration and conservation of drinking water in Guelph and Wellington County. Learn more about your water, and how you can help protect its quality.


DONATE NOW to Hillsburgh Water Legal Defense Fund. Please support our appeal to keep the mandatory reductions on water taking in times of drought in place for Nestlé.

Read more...



Latest updates

Latest on Nestle Legal Battle to Keep Drought Time Water Pumping Restrictions in Place

Last fall, the Ministry of the Environment (“MOE”) renewed Nestlé’s Permit To Take Water for the well site which it operates in Hillsburgh.  As part of this renewal, the MOE placed mandatory restrictions on the amount of water that Nestlé would be allowed to pump during drought conditions.  Nestlé appealed these restrictions to the Environmental Review Tribunal.

In February of this year, Wellington Water Watchers (“WWW”) partnered up with the Council of Canadians (“COC”) to seek Party status in the appeal, with both groups receiving representation from Ecojustice.  At the preliminary hearing, despite the objections of both Nestlé and the … Read the rest

Backlash on Nestlé’s Twitter after Declaring Water is Not a Human Right

Nestle is going through some huge backlash on Twitter right now from the video of their Chairman saying water isn’t a human right. They are trying to correct people, but it’s not going well!

See the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGj4GpAbTM

Nestle backlash 2

Twitter BacklashRead the rest

A Letter from the Friends of Hillsburgh Water

Last spring you attended a showing of “BOTTLED LIFE” at the Erin Legion and I felt you deserved an update.

Nestle had applied for a ten year renewal of the existing permit, but also requested a “spike rate” of an additional 10% on the maximum quantity withdrawn. Despite significant public disapproval and Erin Council voting against the renewal, a permit renewal for five years was indeed granted by the Ministry of the Environment (Sept). The permit renewal included mandatory reductions as to the amount of water that could be drawn during periods of level 1 and level 2

Read the rest

Happy World Water Day!

Happy World Water Day!

Hello POLIS Colleagues and Water Friends,
 
March 22nd has arrived, and it just wouldn’t be right if the POLIS team didn’t wish you a very happy World Water Day! I hope you are able to spend some time outdoors this weekend appreciating your favourite ocean, lake, river, stream, or creek (or all of the above if you’re particularly ambitious).
 
As you may have heard, 2013 marks the POLIS Water Sustainability Project’s ten-year anniversary. We are thrilled to be celebrating this milestone, and since the UN has themed 2013 the “International Year of Water Cooperation,” I figured … Read the rest

March Events

Howdy!

Get your fill of the Wellington Water Watchers at one of three (or why not all?) events in March.

We will have a booth at Sustainability Week at the University of Guelph March 28th in the UC.

You’ll find us at the H2o Go festival, hosted by the City of Guelph, at City Hall from 9am – 3pm on March 23rd.

We will also be attending the Resilience festival hosted by Transition Guelph on March 22nd and 23rd.

This Month is Canada Water Week (18th-24th) as well as UN World Water Day (22nd.) Celebrate by paying us a visit!… Read the rest

Join us at H20 Go – Part of Canada Water Week

295561_570628129621624_732186642_n

 

Click for larger image.… Read the rest

Want to Attend the Nestle Appeal Hearing Thursday? Details Here!

The Environmental Appeals Tribunal Preliminary Hearing for the Nestle Hillsburgh water taking permit is February 21st at 10am in Hillsburgh. Anyone interested in attending can come to the preliminary hearing and express their interest in participating in the full appeal that will be scheduled in the next few weeks. Nestle is appealing the renewal of their permit as they object to mandatory conservation measures to take less water in times of drought. The Wellington Water Watchers and the Council of Canadians have signed up to have party status and will be represented by the esteemed environmental legal organization Ecojustice. Preliminary … Read the rest

Now Accepting Volunteer Applications!

Dear Friends and Members of the Wellington Water Watchers:

We are looking for a few dedicated volunteers to support us in the busy months to come.

Guelph is going to get showered with great events in March: Transition Guelph’s Resilience Festival, H2Go! Festival at City Hall, and the University of Guelph’s Sustainability Week all require our presence. It’s no coincidence; both the UN World Water Day and Canada Water Week take place in March.

Meanwhile, the developers of the Dolime Quarry and Nestlé Waters Canada are each going to court with the Ministry of Environment over their Permits to Take … Read the rest

Perspective on River Floods

We found an interesting 70s vintage GRCA video that has quite progressive language regarding the Grand River. It recognizes that the river ‘owns’ certain lands and makes it very clear that rivers need to flood. Rivers must flood that is one of their main purposes as they bring nutrients to the land etc.. but over time we have demonized flooding because of damage to human infrastructure. We have penned them in only to cause eventual even larger floods. In the end we simply put things where they shouldn’t have been put.

Check out the video here. Read the rest

The Latest on Nestle’s Appeal that Could Let Them Pump Freely in Times of Drought

The following Guelph Mercury article describes Nestle’s failure to meet public disclosure deadlines before appealing to the Environmental Review Tribunal.

Guelph Mercury December 26th

 … Read the rest

Archives