Discussion over a Nestlé water-bottling plant appears to be growing in Sacramento, as the Swiss multinational prepares a facility for operation and new hires begin work. The Sacramento City Council, which was not involved in the decision to approve the plant, will discuss the issue publicly for the first time after a request two weeks ago by council members Kevin McCarty and Lauren Hammond. They asked the council to consider an emergency ordinance requiring a special permit before Nestlé Wate... Suzanne nightrider1000 2010-02-01T05:27:47Z 2010-02-01T05:27:47Z

They are bottling water to sell in a grocery store near you. Do you shop at a grocery store? Do you buy products that are canned or bottled? What about gasoline? Do you drive a car? What about compressed air, tires and supplies for your bicycle? Then, yes, Jerry Brown, they were trucked in from somewhere and some American worker produced them....maybe......if the job wasn't already shipped to China or India...and maybe, just maybe it was a California worker unless you alreday sued their company out of business too. If you folks don't lighten up on this bullcrap, no one is going to have a job anywhere in California. And Jerry.....why dont you go after gangs and stuff like that stop killing the few jobs that are left in this state???!!!

nightrider1000 2010-02-01T05:27:47Z rattatrat 2009-11-04T00:33:22Z 2009-11-04T00:33:22Z

Two nights ago I rented a movie called Flow. It's available via Netflix, and is a documentary in which Nestle bottling plants are given their own segment. If what is reported was accurate, this company destroys communities and the environment in order to profit off of free water from which they make obscene profits. I would urge everyone to view this film.

rattatrat 2009-11-04T00:33:22Z rich 2009-11-01T09:05:57Z 2009-11-01T09:05:57Z

I believe if people want to down grade the water bottling industry , they should put more energy on the independent bottler instead of company's who bottle their own label, major labels who bottle their own beverage like nestleys, pepsi or coke , have the capital to give us a more superior beverage, they care about what goes in the bottle and know how to keep waste to a minimum, there are company's in the valley like for instance Advance H20, (this plant should be shut down) located in Stockton, who bottles water for several major labels, major stores and clubs, this bottler only looks at quantity instead of quality , Ive heard employees who work there saying they would never drink the water that come from that facility cause of all the contamination that gets in the bottle before its ever filled, maintenance manager only cares about numbers and supports poor work ethics by allowing or pushing the maintenance team to work on equipment while in operation, even though the equipment it self is causing the product to be contaminated, nothing is ever done to this bottler they get away with bottling a bad product, a product that is filtered , Sure, but after going through machinery which they allow to run with leaky filters, dirty stretch rods, bottles being blown with dirty wet air, the product is no better after going through the process then it was before the process, like drinking tap water. Their name is not on the bottle so they can care less. Now we have our pepsi , coke and nestleys who have standards and tough standards, they operate with the best equipment , they hire the best maintenance team trained and given the authority to shut down a line if they feel there are issues that need to be addressed on a high priority bases, these are the company's that I trust and will only buy their product, I guess what I'm saying is, knowing the standards of the major names and knowing we have one in our community I support it, If it were a advance h20 moving in our community I would be very concerned, cause I would feel I was getting ripped off, thats the other thing we need to look at, does the bottler have a maintenance team that is being managed by a person who follows , corporate standards , guide lines and ethics. Nestleys does cause they care more about quality then quantity, I feel good about that," people think outside the box", bottled water isn't forced on anyone, we go through a whole lot of it, If its being said that nestley bottles are being seen in the land-fields that just tells me they are giving us a better product, that maybe they can change their bottle type, maybe something that could be reusable. I have visited many bottling plants in the past 20 yrs and know how they operate, I can assure you we are lucky to have plants like Nestleys, Pepsi, Coke and 7up in our community. They honestly do care about our community and the product that they but their label on, more so then the independent bottler

rich 2009-11-01T09:05:57Z rich 2009-11-01T07:53:57Z 2009-11-01T07:53:57Z

I think that the people who are making this a problem are either mis informed or just dont have nothing better to do with their time, Nestleys is not taking any rights away from them, if they choose to drink tap water they have that right, this would be a valid argument if nestleys was just taking the the citie water and bottling it without putting it through any type of filtering and purification process, but thats not the case, nestleys puts the water through a state of the art process system, reverse osmosis , which is like filtering water through a rock, I understand that we need the natural minerals, but Im sure that once they filter and purifie the water , they add the important minerals needed to keep their customers healthy, it would be a wonderful world if we could just turn on our taps at home and fill our cups with free filtered water that has gone through the 7 state of the art filtration systems, but sorry to say no citie or county would invest in a system like that, so me personally I prefer to drink water that does not have the smell of chlorine and other crap that the government puts in it just to kill the bacteria , it cost to filter and ad healthy mineral in drinking water and i have the choice to either buy it or drink it free out of a garden hose, dont know about you but $4.00 for a case of water isn't that bad, We need plants like this , not only to help our economy , environment and open up jobs and careers , but to give us the choice of putting healthy water in our body's, I think groups like the one that is trying to prevent nestleys water from starting up., should do their research and weigh the pros with the cons, I'm sure they would see more positives then negatives in having this plant in our community. I support nestleys 110%

rich 2009-11-01T07:53:57Z Yurty 2009-10-28T01:27:13Z 2009-10-28T01:27:13Z

Max is right....think of water that comes from pipes that in some areas of the US are 100 years old, would you drink orange juice if it came through pipes that where that old geofreak? We have to put so much chlorine in the water to kill bacteria etc. thats not healthy, the best alternative is to use a company like www.waterfilters.com and limit the use of plastic bottles, but some times the plastic bottles are needed.

Yurty 2009-10-28T01:27:13Z geofreak 2009-10-27T19:27:33Z 2009-10-27T19:27:33Z

Where do you come from Max? When water is bottled and people are made to believe it is healthier than tap water, guess what, it is. When people don't demand high quality water at the tap, the government answers the peoples vote to bottle our water. It is so sad that I walk through capitol park and find an old broken drinking fountain. Water is necessary for life. Water in a bottle is a packaged, advertised, and sold lie. The people are just now beginning to understand how they have been duped...me included.

geofreak 2009-10-27T19:27:33Z Max 2009-10-27T14:39:30Z 2009-10-27T14:39:30Z

Water grab? Waste of a natural resource? Is water in a bottle being wasted? People aren't buying it to pour down the sewer, they are drinking it and water is a healthy drink. When water in a bottle is banned it is replaced with some other convenient drink such as a soft drink that is full of high fructose corn syrup and that isn't healthy. By the way not all municipal water is good to drink or even healthy for that matter. I just watched a T.V. show called Dr. OZ where one of the topics was municipal water quality. If you like chlorine, fluoride, fecal matter, lead or a bunch of other chemicals found in most municipal water systems, then turn on the tap and fill your glass to the brim. There are locations with perfect water and if you happen to live where the water is perfect…congratulations. Most of us don’t have that luxury. Max http://www.ensobottles.com

Max 2009-10-27T14:39:30Z Jim Knapp 2009-10-27T06:32:12Z 2009-10-27T06:32:12Z

this issue had nothing to do with Johnson or the SMI... this was a City Manager deal... if anything this water grab proves that we need a strong mayor.

Jim Knapp 2009-10-27T06:32:12Z Steven Bourasa 2009-10-27T04:08:33Z 2009-10-27T04:08:33Z

This is the type of "Strong Mayor" activity you can expect from Kevin Johnson. Nestle' is very bad news for Sacramento!

Steven Bourasa 2009-10-27T04:08:33Z r8rs1 2009-10-27T03:19:27Z 2009-10-27T03:19:27Z

is there an option that would keep nestle and its economic impact in sacramento?. & as Kevin said above, could there be some requirements put on them that will limit the impact on our water supply ( gallonage limit as mentioned and increased water rates for resale purposes) How about a bottle charge to assist in the recycling efforts or the develpoment of biodegradable bottles? And may i say this should have been dealt with well prior to Nestle spending millions on building improvements.No wonder businesses go to rancho cordova. We need to act quickly on these types of issues or business growth will continue to happen elsewhere. Iam sure we are not the only city to have this conversation..

r8rs1 2009-10-27T03:19:27Z biomouse 2009-10-26T23:46:05Z 2009-10-26T23:46:05Z

Excellent article-water is a resource we cannot afford globally and locally to take for granted. I sincerely hope that the city council will give residents an opportunity to have a say in how we as a community can best use our precious natural resources and not give it away without limits to a corporate entity that has no interest in the health and well being of residents. I know the economy is terrible and there are many people out there that need the jobs that would come with this plant, but people can live (albeit not easily) without jobs. What we can't live without is water.

biomouse 2009-10-26T23:46:05Z Reno 2009-10-26T20:49:04Z 2009-10-26T20:49:04Z

I wonder what Vice Mayor has in mind to replace the jobs that will go away and the tax revenue that the city will miss out on. I would like to hear that side of the story if there is one.

Reno 2009-10-26T20:49:04Z Commenter 2009-10-26T19:51:28Z 2009-10-26T19:51:28Z

someone should consider the need for jobs and boost to local economy and also the environmentally friendly approach taken by Nestle (i.e., look to the type and amount of plastic they use for their bottling versus other brands), and look for more necessary and important environmental issues to focus on. Looks like more hot air than anything substantive, and we know that hot air equals carbon dioxide and that's not environmentally friendly -non nestle worker

Commenter 2009-10-26T19:51:28Z Kathleen Haley 2009-10-26T18:36:14Z 2009-10-26T18:36:14Z

Great reporting, Suzanne.

Kathleen Haley 2009-10-26T18:36:14Z StellaM 2009-10-26T18:09:47Z 2009-10-26T18:09:47Z

Really well done, thorough piece of journalism. I hope you'll continue to follow up on this issue and the impacts on Sacramento's water supply.

StellaM 2009-10-26T18:09:47Z Jim Knapp 2009-10-26T06:10:15Z 2009-10-26T06:10:15Z

You're kidding yourself if you think there will be any substantive discussion. The decisions has been made, the public will have no input.

Jim Knapp 2009-10-26T06:10:15Z