By Lu Bauer

I’d like to discuss an issue raised in a letter to the editor written by N. Bryan Pullen, President of Summit Spring Water, Inc. He noted a disconnect between local resistance to Nestle/Poland Springs removing and selling Maine water and people’s tendency to buy Poland Springs water (rather than buying from small, local companies with good conservation practices, like his own). He also falsely claimed that the water tax referendum would unfairly punish Nestle while driving small companies like his out of business.

Many values and policy questions arise here. How do we create business opportunity, particularly for small businesses that invest in their communities? What investments should we make in environmental conservation today to preserve our state’s resources and natural beauty for the future? How do we fairly apportion responsibility for making these investments among citizens and businesses, and between the bottled water industry and other businesses impacted by its activities? These questions require practical answers.

Extraction of large amounts of water from the environment creates a number of problems. If aquifers (essentially underground rivers) are tapped faster than they can be replenished with rainwater and snowmelt, water extraction for other purposes can become more expensive or ultimately impossible, and drinking water quality may decline. Changing aquifer levels can also lead to shifting of sediment in rivers. This lowers fish populations by damaging food supplies, thus impacting other species, as well as recreational fishing and tourism. Many other environmental problems can arise, all of which impact local communities.

The “Water Referendum,” titled “An Act To Protect Maine’s Drinking Water Supply,” ingeniously addresses these concerns, while leveling the playing field between small and large extractors and directing more water extraction profit toward investment in Maine’s economy, rather than Switzerland’s (Nestle is a Swiss company). It will potentially also level the playing field between businesses that use environmentally responsible practices and businesses that don’t.

Here’s how it works. Maine would assess a 20-cents-per-gallon tax on water extracted from the state for bottling purposes, with the revenues placed in a trust administered by a bipartisan board. The tax would not apply to the first 500,000 gallons a company extracts each year, so small companies like Summit Spring Water, which reported extracting 7,500 gallons/year in its July, 2003 report to the state, wouldn’t pay any tax. While keeping their local prices competitive, companies like Poland Springs will have to absorb the costs they impose on the community, ensuring fairness both to the community and to businesses, like Summit, who do not impose such costs on the public.

A small portion of the revenues would fund a Water Resources Conservation Board to regulate water extraction in accordance with Maine’s values and sound science. The Board would have power to require best environmental practices, leveling the playing field between more and less responsible companies. Other funds would be invested in promoting small business opportunity and other economic development initiatives in Maine, including keeping property taxes affordable. Some would go to buying and maintaining public lands. Some would go to municipalities in the aquifer zones to pay for infrastructure needed to cope with extraction activities.

Thus, the Water Referendum, rather than hurting Mr. Pullen’s company, would help it compete and reward it for responsible practices. Sorry, Mr. Pullen, but the tax on Nestle/Poland Springs is perfectly fair. It makes that company absorb costs it imposes on Maine residents, and ensures that extraction of Maine resources benefits Maine citizens.

Mr. Pullen is right about one thing, however. If we want an economy based on responsible businesses investing in their communities, we need to reward them by buying their products. We fulfill our responsibility to our communities through good government, but we must also express it in our everyday choices. Buy Local, Support Maine Businesses!