BAKERSFIELD, Vt. (AP) – Some residents are upset with plans by two businessmen to tap a local spring and sell its water.

Harold Hubbard and John Holcomb won a local zoning decision allowing them to build two 10,000 water storage tanks on Hubbard’s property, from which the water would be moved in trucks and used for well-drilling, swimming pools and potable water needs.

The men have said they also hope eventually to build a water bottling facility, but not in the near future.

A group called Friends of Bakersfield is opposing the plan and is appealing the local zoning decision to the Vermont Environmental Court. It recently got a $2,000 grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund to help with its legal expenses.

The spring is on property owned by Brett and Lucille Isham, but Hubbard owns the rights to the water from it. The Ishams are among the project’s opponents and are members of Friends of Bakersfield.

FOB member Judith Peach said area residents are worried that a large, commercial water operation might deplete local water supplies, and that the extra truck traffic could harm town roads.

Peach said Vermont law currently places no limit on the amount of water that can be drawn from underground aquifers.

“There is no limit,” she said. “If you deplete the aquifer, you’re still hurting the environment.”

She said the spring feeds a brook that flows into a nearby wetland. “It’s all part of our watershed,” she said.

Legislation pending in the Vermont House would identify groundwater in Vermont as a public trust, and would call for mapping of aquifers so they can be protected.

The bill says its aim is “to minimize the risks of groundwater quality deterioration by limiting human activities that present unreasonable risks” to the resource.