Your opinions please. Re: Poland Spring H2O & the Raping of our Resources

As some of you may know, I'm a Maine State Rep currently finishing up my third term. I am not seeking a 4rth. However, I'm accutely aware that problems within my district our still mine until someone else gets sworn-in ( in Dec.)

This particular problem is a messy one, and I'd like some objective insight. It's a long story but I'll try to summarize by saying that, Bottom line; Nestle Water (parent company of Poland Spring) applied for and received a permit to pump thousands of gallons of water per day from a drilled aquifer within a Pristine unorganized territory in my district. To put this in perspective, I represent 18 towns and 81 unorganized territories in an area about the size of Rhode Island or possibly larger. Most of my unorganized territories are about a 3 hour's drive from any sort of civilization. But in this case, the area Nestle Water choose is only about 1/2 hour away from the Plantation of Highland and unorganized (but inhabitited) territory of Lexington.. Worse, there is only one way in and out. Therefore these huge trucks full of water will be pounding the twisting roads of these "one horse" areas possibly as many as 40 times a day.

This is an impoverished slice of Maine. People make the financial sacrifice in order to live a quiet rural lifestyle. Jobs are very hard to come by, so to add insult to injury, I've since learned that Poland Spring's increased production will not create jobs in my area. In short, they'll be taking our resources, ruining our roads, destroying the peace, creating a possible saftey problem, and adding nothing to our local economy. Am I (as well as MANY of my constituemts) wrong to be pissed?

OK. You are probably thinking that I should have done something to stop this... Guess what... I tried. But as a lame duck Rep, up against a huge Corp., it's lawyers, lobbiests, and a pile of Reps in the more populated area of Poland Spring Maine, I stood no chance. The Maine Land Use Regulatory Commission (aka LURC) had their minds made up from the start. They didn't even follow the typical protocal of a public hearing! :grr:

And people wonder why I don't want another term. This is just one of the MANY frustrations that rural Reps face. There is nothing I can do about the LURC ruling but if I were to serve another term, I would consider legislation that would charge a certain amount of $ for every gallon taken from my area-AND see if I could insist that the money be dedicated to my area. Easier said then done, trust me, but I'll be pestering our new Rep to do it.

Back to the point; Any suggestions would be appreciated but more then that, I'd like your opinion(s) as to what you think of the corporate rape of American resources.

both states -local people that is-fought to keep the water plants from either increasing production or drilling wells. drilling doesn`t just effect one area it effects thousands of square miles.
i was wondering where you were,haven`t seen you here in awhile-i`ve noticed a few du`ers are vactioning in your state...
the states and canada have been fighting of efforts to tap the great lakes water for years. they have been successful so far but with all the trade agreements that may not be the case in the future.

I'm a long way from Maine. It seems to me that water is ultimately a resource of the Earth, and expressly needs not to be a special-interest profit center. Privatization of water resources is worse than privatization of electricity, since people can live without electricity, but no animal can live without water.

We all know about Enron--I hope--but does our government care?

Without the price lowering effects of competition, capitalism imposes economic terror onto its subjects. Without concern for local government, the permitting agency (LURC?) overrode local costs imposed indirectly by their permit issuance.

There is something systemically wrong with government when it favors a private for-profit interest over the "needs" of its people. When government does this, since ultimately the people are supposed "to be" the government, then we have allowed a system of tyranny that empowers the corporate kings at the expense of citizens.

This is corporatism, and the U.S. is now head deep in it, and we have been for some time. Where's Robin Hood?

From the kings' viewpoints, citizens may now be the terrorists, but from my viewpoint, one type of terrorist is certainly the kings.

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Peripheral:

For many years I went to Tijuana for pharmaceuticals for my personal use. They were legal to bring back across the border provided they were for personal use and not for redistribution. I found with the usage of texts such as The Merck Manual, I often didn't need doctor or veterinary services. (this also protected my medical privacy absolutely)

What is the point of learning to read if one isn't allowed to save money based upon knowledge one is able to glean from reading?

The last time I went down to Tijuana was after 9/11, perhaps about 1 year ago. Border Patrol wouldn't let me take any medicines back into the U.S. When I asked why not, an officer told me, "The laws changed after 9/11."

On that particular day, I woke up to the fact that the government was now empowering the corporate pharmaceutical and health care professional terrorist, all the while claiming they were protecting us from a different type of terrorist.

Such Hypocrites!

Let's just say that I have good reason to believe that the flow of cheap Mexican pharmaceuticals continues at Tijuana -- been there a few times since 9-11.

I lived in the Boston Area a few years ago and would ride my bicycle to work. Often I would get trapped along side a Poland Springs delivery truck (both bicycle and automotive traffic tended to move at about the same rate) that, without fail, would belch huge amounts of ugly black fumes non-stop. Besides the irony of a huge increase in air pollution that un-doubtably off-set any gains from drinking the "pure" water, if I ever get lung cancer - that's my primary suspect.

Of course this post is of no or little help to you, but I just thought I'd use This Opportunity to point out the I don't like Poland Springs, either.

If the principal heavy hauler on the roads is PS then you/your replacement should be able to get PS to pay for maintainance/improvement of the road.

Also the formula for determining how much water they can pull from the Aquafir should be a percentage of the maximum sustainable capacity after local use.

trucking.

I live in New Jersey and my local ground water is contaminated with perchloroethylene and a certain amount of radioactive materials from the Uranium in our soils around here. We also have septic systems here and occassionally our wells are contaminated with micro organisms.

I wasn't too concerned with the radioactivity but the perc bothered me a bit, as well as the potential microbiological contamination, so I put in a carbon filter, a UV light and an ion exchanger in the main line, and a RO system in the kitchen for drinking water.

I guarantee that my tap water is now infinitely cleaner than Poland Spring's water. I recently had it analyzed and all that could be found in it was dihydrogen monoxide, aka oxygen hydride, and a tiny amount of deuterium oxide.

There was no Uranium, no Radium, no Radon, no lead, no perc, no aromatic hydrocarbons, no mercury, nothing, just water. No offense to the water of Maine, but my water tastes better than Poland Spring. Last week I brought some dry ice home from the lab and made a pretty decent carbonated beverage as well. (My kids loved the smoking fizz.)

One can buy commercially purified water produced in local plants nearly anywhere in the United States that is as clean as my water, or if one can afford it, one can install a system for a few thousand dollars that gives very clean water. Given the growth of pollution, it's probably a good health investment.

Clean drinking water is a problem worldwide, but trucking water across the country is a horrible solution to the problem.

BTW, perchloroethylene (dry cleaning fluid) is found in about 30% of the drinking water in the United States, particularly that obtained from areas within a few miles of landfills. (It actually can be detected in rainfall.)

I strongly suspect that a UV light is pretty effective at removing this contaminant (permanently as the perc is decomposed) which is why I included in my system. No UV systems advertise this capability (they are sold to eliminate bacterial contamination) but my search of the chemical literature suggest that UV lights do in fact destroy perc. Activated charcoal filters (also in my system) remove any residual (undestroyed) perc and many other organic contaminants. To keep these devices from being fouled where the water is hard, I recommend an ion exchange device (commercially called "water softeners") in the line.

This would apply in this situation as I am not familiar with the area nor the location.
I remember a few years back that a company in Quebec wanted to extract water for a similar purpose and it got involved in a case of potentially taking water that was perhaps destined, or would influence the water table, in the US. In ended up in having to go through some hoops. I don't know how it ended up but it certainly stalled things at the least and added to the cost.
Was just wondering if the reverse might apply in this case. It would probably require some action on the Quebec side if it did.

More correctly, they use reverse osmosis to purify the water. This trucking scheme sounds like a terrible waste of resources. They should be able to collect water downstream where it is needed and filter and bottle it.

Are these dirt logging roads or are they paved?

If they aren't paved, mud season will be hell on them.

Ever consider a toll road here?

The loggers might not like it, but it would help pay for road maintenance and the money would be collected and used in your area.