This is the last of 5 dispatches about the visit to Vittel, France by a delegation from Wellington Water Watchers. (If you would like to read the complete list of dispatches go to our blog here).
Karen Rathwell, Dr. Susan Glasauer (WWW Board members) and Mike Balkwill will be presenting a report back on our visit to Vittel, France, in Elora on Thursday March 7th. The meeting will be held in the Elora United Church, 75 Geddes Street. The meeting begins at 7pm – doors open at 6:30. This meeting is open to the public.
The Vittel dispatches resonated with our many supporters and we received many emails in response. A sample of these responses is below – these comments speak for themselves.
- Thank you for this! While I have been against Nestlé practices for some time, I admit I was shocked at the revelation of their plan to make tap water undrinkable. This is appalling and a horror! Privatizing water is not only about the profit, but about eliminating its use except for by purchase...terrible. Very glad that you're making these efforts on our behalf. Keep on!
- This is a very revealing story. However, it should not come as a surprise as companies that depend on natural resources will use every means available to advance and protect their access to these resources, it is a tough fight. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
- Just signed on as a monthly donor. Keep up the good work
(By the way you too can become a monthly donor by clicking here!)
- Thanks for the updates. This is very important stuff. It is good that those of us with more privilege also stand up for those who are much more disadvantaged.
- How vital and important that WWW is there!! This global transgression must be exposed. Thank you for your trip and thank you for these updates. We are standing with you!!
- Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your fight to save the aquifers of this world!
- I am deeply grateful for your work. My son (age 14) is very committed to what you are doing and shows it through his actions. He has informed me about some of the companies tied to Nestlé and those products are no longer purchased. This influence has extended to other family members outside of Guelph. Your dispatches are also forwarded to family outside of Guelph.
- These dispatches are great - interesting, eye-opening & telling. Thanks so much to all three of you for committing to this work. Connecting the dots has taken on layers of significance & meaning. Onward.
- I am 100% supportive of measures to prevent the abuse or monopolization of ground water resources. It makes me quite ill to think that the displaced people in Yemen and Syria (to name but a couple of locations) are desperate for water, a resource that should be freely available to every person on this earth, yet the only solution is for aid groups or government agencies to pay top dollar to Nestlé for bottled water which cost the latter next to nothing. The only thing that will ever come close to equaling such a travesty is to discover that one day people will need to pay for the air they breathe.
Nestlé is an evil Goliath; it has enormous resources and there are no doubt many governments that could be enticed to declare that tap water is not for drinking. Imagine, a company headquartered in a nation that declared neutrality and made enormous sums of money by sitting out two world wars, is well on its way to monopolizing the world's best water sources, acquired at little or no cost, with the objective of making everyone captive to buying their bottled water. Turning such a situation around is nothing short of a Nobel Peace prize undertaking - but it can be done. It’s going to take an unflinching commitment by many, many groups to work together and it will require some major financial support.
This trip to Switzerland will hopefully be a big step in helping to shape how WWW goes forward. Big challenge; big opportunity.
P.S. In Dispatch #4 I asked for donations to send to Collectif Eau 88 in Vittel, France to support their fight against Nestlé. So far, we have received $400 – Thank you!
Mike Balkwill,
Campaign Director,
Wellington Water Watchers
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