I think Peter Vigue is wrong about Poland Spring (column, Sun Journal, Oct. 9). Indiscriminately taking water out of the ground for bottling, or any other purpose, depletes a resource that, so far this year, is not being renewed. That same Sun Journal featured articles describing the extent of the present drought, with wells going dry, rivers at near record lows and cautions to conserve water.

Sure, Poland Spring has been bottling for 170 years, but back then water wasn’t sold at $10 for three cases.

Poland Spring is just a small part of Nestle Corp., the world’s largest food company. Can’t that company survive without drying up a Maine resource?

Water has long been deemed a renewable resource, but nature hasn’t renewed it as fast as people are using it up. For all our lives, we have been warned of drought and other stresses to this planet. Sure, Poland Spring has been a good Maine company supplying many jobs here in Maine and elsewhere. Can’t Nestle be satisfied with staying that way rather than taking all Maine’s water? What will happen when it’s all used up? Then what?

Before starting up in Rumford, Poland Spring should at least wait until residents know they can make it through the fall and winter with enough water to keep wells and reservoirs from going dry.

Additionally, Poland Springs’ Good Neighbor Program should consider what its steady train of tractor trailer trucks does to neighborhoods.

Anne Martin, Minot


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