In my view...

With less winter snow fall, earlier springs, and hotter summers... it seems that...

Arguing about climate change vs climate variation is like two men standing on the railroad tracks in the 1950s arguing about if the train approaching through the fog was a steam or a diesel. Unfortunately, their focus was on the heated argument between them and who was right and who was wrong, rather than on the oncoming train. We can guess what happened.

This is much like the situation we are finding ourselves in now with our declining aquifers which are due to less snowfall, hotter summers, and more demand. The real question is ...Do we see the oncoming train, and what are we going to do about it? We need to take immediate appropriate action. Allowing any of our water to be privatized and sold out of state in face of drought and water shortages is not an appropriate action. Let's not be like the two men who, being so focused on the argument, ignored the oncoming train.

But rather, let us make the choice to get our valley and ourselves out of harm's way and put a moratorium on industrial-scale water bottling plants in the our Flathead Valley.

Let's preserve our valley for generations to come.

Thanks....

 P.S. Over 800 visits to this Blog!

As we in the Flathead Valley have had an early spring with less than outstanding winter snow pack, too many other areas have also. I believe this article from the Desert Sun addresses many of our concerns about the availability of water now and in the future.

Losing snow in a changing climate

Our Aquifers apparently aren't bottomless...Click on image to enlarge...

 

Another alarming Development! 

 

Bottled water and packaging plant planned for Blackfeet Reservation 

Something I found in the Daily Inter Lake. I think that this sentiment as reflected in this article, is common throughout the Flathead Valley.

Opinion: Risks of bottling plant need to be fully accessed

P.S. We have had almost 700 visits to this blog...

As of this a.m. I noticed that Water for Flathead's Future website was live....

 

Visit it at....

http://www.waterforflatheadsfuture.org/

In the midst of California’s historic drought, Nestle Waters—the largest bottler of water in the world—is drawing millions of gallons of water a year from the San Bernardino National Forest. 

http://storyofstuff.org/movies/nestle/ 

Hummm...Bottling Plants in the Flathead Valley....

And as citizens, who ever asked us if this was a good idea? 
Not MAWC and not DNRC!


P.S. Over 600 visits to this Blog!

Water for Flathead's Future Issues a Mission Statement...

Our Mission -

Water for Flathead's Future is a grass roots organization (born just a couple of weeks ago) that advocates sustainable use of our surface and underground water resources to assure that the needs of the people, fish and wildlife of the Flathead Valley of Montana can be met now and for generations to come. Any person or company that endangers the quality and availability of this most valuable resource by shipping large quantities of it away from the local area poses a threat to our livelihoods, our happiness, and our economy.  We work to prevent issuance of water permits supporting any such activities.

 

See Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/waterforflatheadsfuture/ 

 Here is an interesting article from Readers Digest with comments and warnings about bottled water...

See link below
http://www.rd.com/health/diet-weight-loss/rethink-what-you-drink/

Water for Flathead's Future has a FaceBook page!
Click on  the link below...
https://www.facebook.com/waterforflatheadsfuture/

New Flathead Beacon Article, click link below...Also note comments from Sandy Perry spokes-person for Water for Flathead's Future.

 

 Worries Run Deep as Creston Water Bottling Plant Seeks Approval

 

Note:  To date, this blog has over 500 page views...proving people care about this issue!

 

A bit more information on the Cascade Locks Nestle Bottling Plant woes....

See Link Below...

Keep Nestle out!

A few thoughts about bottled water!
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/live-healthy/tap-water-vs-bottled-water

"A new group formed last week, Water for Flathead's Future, has arranged an additional educational session with scientists Wheaton and Rose. These are the same MBMG scientists that will make the presentation at the Flathead Community College on April 6th at 6:30 PM.

This additional presentation will take place this Thursday morning at 10 AM (April 7th) at the Church at Creston, 5447 Hwy 35. This meeting is definitely not political. It was arranged to focus more on questions that have been raised about the potential impact of removing large quantities of groundwater from the local aquifer versus on site use."

Click below for Great Video on Bottled Water...

The Story of Bottled Water



An interesting thought for the day...see link below

Montreal wants complete ban on plastic water bottles

We're glad to see the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has submitted an objection to the MAWC water right based on their concerns that the review analysis has been inadequate and impacts to their wells at the Creston National Fish Hatchery could be significant. They conducted their own modeling analysis with the alarming results showing that their wells could drop as much as 20' compared to DNRC's “worst case scenario” that wells in the vicinity of the hatchery would drop up to 4.5' over the next 5 years. We hope the USFWS objection will be taken under serious consideration and prompt a more thorough investigation of the potential impacts of the water right before a decision is made to grant it.