John Graham's Letter to the Editor--published in the Mountain Mail

This letter would like to address the concept of trucking water 125 miles from Chaffee County to Denver for the purpose of bottling it for sale. The fundamental idea is flawed and presents an idea that flies in the face of the concepts of sustainability and concern for our environment.

Nestle is the company that is proposing this idea to the residents of Chaffee County. Why do they want to do this? The answer lies in the fact that they have helped to create and promote a market for “spring water”, a product which they promote as superior to other water. The campaign has been successful in spite of the fact that consumers in blind studies can rarely ever detect the difference between “ordinary” water and “spring” water. Nestle wants us to help them to produce their spring water product. I would like to add at this point the fact that Nestle has a very profitable business and market for selling their “Pure Life” water which they bottle in Denver using water directly from Denver Water Department.

It is my conviction and sentiment that this planet cannot afford the luxury of transporting “spring water” over these great distances by tanker truck when clean pure water is already available. By saying “yes” to Nestle we are saying “yes” to the support of a practice that is not healthy for the Planet and surely not healthy for the County.

When consumers hear that Chaffee County has taken the position of not supporting Nestle to take water from our County and of not being swayed by the carrot of short term economic gain, I think it will send a positive and clear message that we care about our health and environment, both on a County level and a Planetary level.

To those residents who share this view, please let your neighbors and friends be aware of this issue so that we may all let our County Commissioner know of our concerns.

--John Graham