Dear fellow Chaffee County residents,
Some new information concerning the Nestle 1041 application has come to light in the form of a 16-page document [PDF] that was commissioned by Chaffee County “to assess validity of the analysis given in the Nestle Water North America (NWNA) report and whether or not the analysis and report fully addresses the requirements in Chaffee County’s 1041 Regulations”. It is a report that you and I paid for and which has only recently surfaced. It is not on the Chaffee County website nor is it available in the places where we have been told that the pertinent 1041 application data resides. I personally find it very disturbing that this information has remained so difficult to find and that there has been no observable discussion about it.
As noted in the document, the highlighting that you see is something that a resident has added. Reading the document is very revealing and informative.
Below you will find several excerpts from this document that reveal the nature of the report.
When the withdrawal project is viewed in the context of the entire hydrogeological system including the impacts of a changing climate, NWNA’s conclusions, regarding sustainability of the proposed pumping rates and no negative impact to the aquifer, springs or stream flows and associated wetland vegetation, may not be supported.
NWNA conclusions, regarding no impact to wildlife and their habitat are not supported by the evidence.
NWNA’s conclusions, regarding “no detrimental impact” to wetland communities, are not supported.… the cumulative withdrawal may exceed the sustainability of the aquifer thereby impacting wetland ecosystems that the aquifer supports.
In my opinion test pumping data indicates that there is the potential for substantial dewatering of the aquifer with a commensurate reduction in spring/seep flows in an extended drought and/or reduced recharge scenario … In such a dewatering scenario impacts to wetland vegetation and habitat would likely be negative and significant.
Viewed as a system the Site is highly sensitive to changes in the flow regime. Even small drawdowns could dewater the aquifer in times of extended drought.
These are just a few points, there are many more in the report.
If you think that this letter and the report referenced might be of interest to anyone you know, I urge you to pass this along. I think that this information is very important to be made public. As I stated above, I am quite upset that it has kept so quiet. It contains crucial information.
John Graham
Download the report. [PDF]
Copies of consultant reports were requested March 11th and received March 12th. If the final version was dated March 2nd, why were we given the Draft instead?
Michele Riggio
Can you agitate to get this document put up on the Chaffee County web site and with the other 1041 application data?
Can you personally contact news stations with this information? How about town meetings? Even signs at gas stations.
The planet is going down the tubes environmentally and I am sick of corporations like Nestle behaving irresponsibly.
The CEOs of Nestle and Monsanto, etc. don’t care if the world is desertified, as long as their vacation homes and golf courses appear unaffected. They are too selfish to realize that there will one day be no refuge, even for the monied, thanks to them.