Crystal Geyser Plans to Retreat from Oxford, Wisconsin a Victory for Local and National Activists

Washington, D.C.– Last week, activists in Oxford, Wisconsin, celebrated a significant victory when the water bottling giant Crystal Geyser announced it would cancel plans to open a bottling facility there. The proposed plant would have pumped 360,000 gallons of water a day from the Upper Fox Watershed, a practice that would have compromised Oxford’s ecosystem by negatively impacting the quality and quantity of the local water supply.  The plant would also have introduced between 40 and 60 fume-emitting trucks a day to this quiet, rural area.

“A multi-national corporation, Crystal Geyser is owned by Japanese and French interests. This corporation is known for shipping much of the water it bottles in the U.S. oversees, a practice that not only robs communities of their local water, but also wastes natural resources like oil.

“This recent development in Oxford is one in a series of triumphs for communities against corporate water-bottling interests. Last month, activists in McCloud, California, saw the culmination of a six-year battle against Nestle when the company finally agreed to cancel plans to build a bottled water facility there.

“These victories, combined with recent revelations that bottled water sales are on the wane, help illustrate the growing backlash against this overpriced, destructive, and unnecessary product. Food & Water Watch congratulates activists in Oxford for this impressive victory and looks forward to a day when bottled water is rendered obsolete.”

Contact: Kate Fried, Food 7 Water Watch, (202)-683-2500

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.

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