<p><em>By <a href="mailto:payettepc@interlochen.org">Peter Payette</a></em></p> <p>The legal battle over bottled water in Mecosta County has come to end. A final settlement was reached Monday in the Ice Mountain case that has dragged on for nine years. Originally, the state gave Nestle Waters North America a permit to pump up to 400 gallons of spring water per minute from the ground near Big Rapids. Under the settlement, Nestle can pump an average of 200 gallons per minute, with tighter restrictions during the summer months.</p> <p>The president of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation believes the settlement will protect the streams and lakes in the area. But Terry Swier says the state shouldn't issue these permits in the first place.</p> <p>It takes a citizens group" says Swier, "to find that the permit from the DEQ did harm to these bodies of water."</p> <p>In 2003 a trial judge ordered the bottling plant shutdown but an appelate ruling overturned parts of that decison.</p> <p>The Ice Mountain case was going to be back in court this week. Nestle was to argue that it could extract more water without doing any harm. A spokeswoman says the company is pleased to put the issue to rest.</p> <p>The citizen's group will not let the broader issue rest. The group's attorney, Jim Olson, is a staunch critic of the state's water laws and the regional Great Lakes Compact. The compact allows bottled water an exemption from rules that ban diversions of large amounts of water out of the basin.</p>
Ice Mountain Battle Ends
