Over the past five years I have enjoyed getting to know the residents of McCloud as we have worked through the process of siting a bottling facility in your area.
It is my sincere hope that as we continue to move forward with public meetings and environmental review that we can have an active open dialogue about this project – whether it is over your concerns, questions or expectations for it.
As many of you know, we recently decided to move forward with a smaller project size than we initially proposed in McCloud.
In a nutshell this new project proposal includes:
- Construction of a 350,000 square foot bottling facility on the old mill property in McCloud.
- At full build out this facility would house up to four production lines and create approximately 100 jobs.
- Use of an annual maximum of 600 acre-feet of water each year. This water would be purchased from the McCloud Community Services District (MCSD). The company will not have any rights to the water, but rather be a paying customer just like any other customer of the MCSD.
Click here to view a more detailed side-by-side comparison of our original project proposal and our revised project proposal.
There are also scientific studies currently underway to learn more about the Squaw Valley Creek watershed. These studies will help support the preparation of an environmental impact report on the proposed project.
Nestlé’s fundamental goal is to sell high quality water. Our business model depends on us maintaining the quality and the sustainability of the springs from which we obtain water, whether in Denver, Maine or here in McCloud. The key to our successful management of this site and others is our long term monitoring program, which starts before the pump test and continues as long as we operate.
In addition, as you may already know, we are currently in the process of holding a series of public forums on our project. The purpose of these meetings is to provide you with an opportunity to learn more about our proposed project, and more importantly, for us to hear feedback from you on the proposal. We hope you can join us for one of these meetings. The next one will be on February 18, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the McCloud Elementary School.
As members of the McCloud community we understand how important it is for you to have accurate and current information about the project so you can make informed decisions. I also know many of you have a number of specific questions about various aspects of this project which is why we have created this document to answer many of those questions.
If you would like to discuss this project or you have a question not fully answered on this web site please call me at 1-866-624-9376 or contact me and I will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Dave Palais, Ph.D., CHG
Natural Resource Manager
Nestlé Waters North America Inc. |
