Inside the Nestle Ice Mountain bottling plant

Water bottles move toward packaging at the Nestle Ice Mountain water bottling plant in Stanwood on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. Ice Mountain is a brand of Nestle Waters North America. (Neil Blake | MLive.com)

(Neil Blake)

LANSING, MI -- Two Michigan House Democrats are introducing concurrent resolutions urging the state to reject Nestle Ice Mountain's pending permit request to increase the volume of spring water it pumps in Osceola County.

Reps. Terry Sabo, D-Muskegon, and Robert Wittenberg, D-Oak Park, say Nestle is not providing "sufficient information" to properly evaluate the environmental impacts of increasing the capacity on its production well near Evart.

The resolutions will be officially entered when the House reconvenes on April 19.

"Nestle's analysis relies too much on hydrologic models that may underestimate the actual impact on wetlands and streams, rather than pump tests and actual data collection," the language reads.

"In addition, its application fails to fully assess the potential impact on threatened and endangered species that may use these habitats."

The resolutions ask Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to reject the application, which is the subject of an April 12 public hearing in Big Rapids. The DEQ has extended public review three times since the application was first reported last fall.

The DEQ is accepting public comment until 5 p.m. on April 21 on Nestle's application to boost pumping on White Pine Springs Well No. 101 to 400 gallons-per-minute (gpm). Nestle can presently pump at 250-gpm on the well.

The well is located at the headwaters of Chippewa Creek, a coldwater tributary of the Muskegon River. It also pulls water from the nearby Twin Creek watershed.

The DEQ is developing the draft permit under Section 17 of the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), a regulation specific to water bottling that stipulates a permit is necessary if the water is from a new or increased large-quantity withdrawal of more than 200,000 gallons of water per day.

Nestle says it has studied the hydrogeology of the area around its well and claims the increased pumping will not harm the watersheds. Opponents argue the creek watersheds cannot handle the increased pumping rate.

The state requested more data from Nestle in February. The application, supporting data and documents are posted on the DEQ website.

Arlene Anderson-Vincent, Nestle Ice Mountain natural resources manager, issued a statement In response to the resolutions.

Ferris State University will host the hearing on April 12, which will follow an "information session" from 4 to 6 p.m. at the University Center, 805 Campus Drive, in Big Rapids. The public hearing is from 7 to 9 p.m.

Written comments can be emailed to deq-eh@michigan.gov or mailed to:

MDEQ, Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance Division, Environmental Health Section, P.O. Box 30421, Lansing, Michigan, 48909-7741.

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