The bottled-water company last year tried to kill legislation aimed at protecting aquifers at a time when many are at risk nationally.
Maine’s Legislature voted down a bill that would have limited large-scale pumping of groundwater in the state. Poland Spring, the bottled-water giant, had lobbied aggressively against the measure.
The proposal would have placed a 10-year limit on large-scale water-extraction contracts, a restriction that the bill’s supporters said would protect Maine’s precious groundwater at a time when water levels are falling across the country. It failed to pass on Thursday by a 21-to-12 vote in the State Senate.
Poland Spring, a major presence in Maine, draws water from eight locations around the state to bottle and sell. It is trying to lock in a new contract of up to 45 years to pump water in Lincoln, a former mill town.
BlueTriton — which owns Poland Spring and other major bottled-water brands, including Arrowhead and Deer Park — lobbied against the changes. Last year, The New York Times reported that the company wrote, and circulated among legislators, a proposed amendment that would have gutted the bill.
Bottled water should be illegal for so many reasons. The water user itself, the plastic waste, the tons of microplastics, and the use of so much fossil fuel to ship a very heavy item around the country when it travels freely by pipe.
Exceptions for places with contaminated water of course.
Glass bottles and only for use in emergency situations.