Sacramento officials should consider requiring special use permits for large water users, including water and beverage bottling companies such as Nestlé, a City Council committee decided Thursday. The council's Law & Legislation Committee passed a recommendation that the City Council approve a working group to explore whether the city's biggest water users should be subject to conditional use permits that would help give the city more ability to monitor and regulate their water use. The recommendation was approved unanimously Thursday afternoon by the committee's three present members, Chair Sandy Sheedy and councilmen Steve Cohn and Robbie Waters. "We have a scarce resource that we don

On Thursday, Sacramento planning department staff will recommend against requiring a special land use permit for water and beverage bottling companies. However, city officials and staff will continue to consider creating tiered water rates that could take effect in 2012 or sooner. Staff from the city's Community Development Department will report to the City Council's Law & Legislation Committee, in response to requests made by council members Kevin McCarty and Lauren Hammond involving Nestlé Waters North America last October. Bottling plants are permitted in zones approved for light industrial, heavy commercial and heavy industrial businesses in Sacramento. A staff survey found that co

Groups fighting a Nestlé water-bottling plant in Sacramento are bringing a documentary about the bottled water industry to the Crest Theatre Wednesday night. Save Our Water Sacramento and the Alliance for Democracy's Defending Water for Life campaign are hosting two screenings of "Tapped," a 76-minute film examining the industry and the question of whether access to water is a human right or a commodity that should be bought and sold. "We felt that now is an important time to bring that kind of film to Sacramento so people can find out what kind of issues we're facing with this proposed Nestlé bottling plant," said Sacramento resident Evan Tucker, a leader of Save Our Water Sacramento. "