Florida moves to charge companies who bottle state’s water

In Florida, Democratic State Rep. Franklin Sands has filed a bill to “collect a modest fee from bottled water companies that derive extravagant profits for the privilege of pumping millions of gallons of water daily from Florida’s springs and other water bodies.” Sands’ filing of House Bill 781 comes after public criticism over water bottling giants’ current ability to extract — without charge — water for commercial purposes.

Nestle soaked in water controversy around the world

Why do people hate Nestle? Why are people in Chaffee County up in arms over a water deal that in the overall scheme of things is a drop in the bucket, both to Nestle and to the Arkansas River?…

Nestle water deal rained down cash on key Chaffee County locals

The Nestle corporation plan to tap the Arkansas River Basin in Chaffee County for its “Arrowhead Springs” mineral water product will make the company hefty profits. Unsurprisingly, the deal has already generated significant cash for a small group of locals involved in the controversial enterprise.

Nestle OK’d to turn Arkansas River springs into bottled water product

Chaffee County Tuesday afternoon issued a notice to Nestle that it could proceed with its plan to pump millions of gallons of water from springs next to the Arkansas River and cart it to Denver for bottling under the Arrowhead Springs label.

Aurora may not have right to sell water to Nestle

Last year, the city of Aurora made a deal to lease 65 million gallons of water to Nestle. In making the deal, the city council moved against the city’s culture of water conservation, bypassed the Aurora Citizen Water Committee, alienated one of the city’s vital water partners, the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, and also may have violated the terms of its rights to Arkansas Basin water–all for a mere $160,000 per year, a fraction of the profits Nestle will reap from bottling the water and selling it across the mountain west and beyond.

Nestle to begin draining millions of gallons of Arkansas River water

If things go according to plan, in about a month someone at Nestle Waters North America will turn a valve and water will begin running out of a pipeline near Buena Vista and will splash into an empty 8,000-gallon tanker truck. It will take roughly an hour for the truck to fill, and then another truck will take its place. The water will run 24 hours a day, filling approximately 25 trucks each day, every day.

Proposed geothermal lease in Chaffee County has residents steamed

Colorado is no stranger to controversial energy extraction, with its perpetual tussles over oil, gas and uranium mining.

Now Chaffee County is seeing a battle over a new kind of energy extraction:  geothermal. A Bureau of Land Management proposal to…

News Nuggets, 19 August 2009: Chaffee County gave away the water

Dug up fresh, daily.

AWAY WENT THE WATER: The good news is that citizens made a stand. The bad news is that today they lost. Chaffee County commissioners, who ran on pledges they would guard the county’s precious water,…

In Arkansas Valley, online news sites challenge print stagnation

LEADVILLE — For roughly a year now, news and information websites have been slowly emerging to cater to the residents of the Arkansas Valley, the scenic stretch running along the Sawatch and Collegiate ranges, southwest of Denver. The new sites have been launched by local citizens whose expectations for media have clearly outrun the professional product available locally.