Bundanoon, located in the picturesque Southern Highlands of New South Wales and boasts a population of just 2,000, voted by a huge majority in favour of the move with a show of hands at a public meeting. Huw Kingston, a local businessman and organiser, said almost 400 people turned up to the Bundanoon Memorial Hall, with only two casting dissenting votes."It was the biggest ever turnout in the community here at Bundanoon - it's overwhelming support,'' he said. "We can now continue with our route of making Bundanoon Australia's first bottled water-free town."We can go forward with the strength of the community and the businesses right behind us.''Shops in the town will now be banned from stocking and selling bottled water and filtered water fountains will be placed on Bundanoon's main street so people can fill their bottles for free. Visitors to the town will also be discouraged, but not banned, from drinking bottled water.Locals decided to act when drinks company Norlex Holdings announced plans to tap an underground reservoir in the town, truck the water up to Sydney and then send it back in bottles.
Bundanoon, located in the picturesque Southern Highlands of New South Wales and boasts a population of just 2,000, voted by a huge majority in favour of the move with a show of hands at a public meeting.
Huw Kingston, a local businessman and organiser, said almost 400 people turned up to the Bundanoon Memorial Hall, with only two casting dissenting votes.
"It was the biggest ever turnout in the community here at Bundanoon - it's overwhelming support,'' he said. "We can now continue with our route of making Bundanoon Australia's first bottled water-free town.
"We can go forward with the strength of the community and the businesses right behind us.''
Shops in the town will now be banned from stocking and selling bottled water and filtered water fountains will be placed on Bundanoon's main street so people can fill their bottles for free. Visitors to the town will also be discouraged, but not banned, from drinking bottled water.
Locals decided to act when drinks company Norlex Holdings announced plans to tap an underground reservoir in the town, truck the water up to Sydney and then send it back in bottles.
He said a catalyst for the campaign was an application by Sydney company Norlex Holdings Pty Ltd to build a local water extraction plant, raising people's awareness of the issue. The application was rejected but an appeal is before the courts. The campaign has spread beyond Bundanoon, prompting the government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, to also look at ways to cut down on bottled water. Organisations like conservation group WWF have campaigned against bottled water, saying resources are wasted in bottling and transporting water which may be no safer or healthier than tap water while selling for up to a thousand times the price. NSW Premier Nathan Rees this week announced an immediate ban on state departments and agencies buying bottled water. "Tap water isn't just better for the environment, it's better for your wallet - you can refill your drink bottle 1,350 times for the average cost of a bottle of spring water," Rees said.
He said a catalyst for the campaign was an application by Sydney company Norlex Holdings Pty Ltd to build a local water extraction plant, raising people's awareness of the issue. The application was rejected but an appeal is before the courts.
The campaign has spread beyond Bundanoon, prompting the government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, to also look at ways to cut down on bottled water.
Organisations like conservation group WWF have campaigned against bottled water, saying resources are wasted in bottling and transporting water which may be no safer or healthier than tap water while selling for up to a thousand times the price.
NSW Premier Nathan Rees this week announced an immediate ban on state departments and agencies buying bottled water.
"Tap water isn't just better for the environment, it's better for your wallet - you can refill your drink bottle 1,350 times for the average cost of a bottle of spring water," Rees said.
Aurora is leasing Twin Lakes water to Nestlé. The Twin Lakes decrees are pretty senior in priority. In times of low water -- say, a drought -- the river is governed by calls in any given stretch. Calls are made when someone with a decreed water right asks for their water. If current demand in that stretch exceeds the volume of water called for, water is doled out in order of priority, oldest first. So, again in a given stretch, a decreed party might just fall out of priority. This is determined by the decree and ditch company or project rules. Ditch companies generally allocate water equally -- so much water per share. The water that Aurora is leasing to Nestlé is for augmentation. The water will be released from storage at Twin Lakes to the Arkansas mainstem to pay the river for the water that Nestlé plans to pump at Hagen Spring. They'll always pay this water to the river unless they fall out of priority which has been rare. Remember, Twin Lakes water comes from the Colorado River Basin on the west slope. The folks that will be effected in a drought are those junior to Aurora's Twin Lakes rights. Nestlé plans to truck 200 acre-feet or so of spring water per year to Denver for bottling.
The water that Aurora is leasing to Nestlé is for augmentation. The water will be released from storage at Twin Lakes to the Arkansas mainstem to pay the river for the water that Nestlé plans to pump at Hagen Spring. They'll always pay this water to the river unless they fall out of priority which has been rare. Remember, Twin Lakes water comes from the Colorado River Basin on the west slope. The folks that will be effected in a drought are those junior to Aurora's Twin Lakes rights.
Nestlé plans to truck 200 acre-feet or so of spring water per year to Denver for bottling.
