Nestle wants to increase the amount of water it pulls from its well near Evart to be bottled at its plant in Stanwood.

 

The Department of Environmental Quality needs to issue a permit for that to happen and a public comment period is supposed to take place.

 

The Nestle proposal was published last month in the DEQ Environmental Calendar which is not widely read by the general public.

 

Mlive published a story about the request late last week, three days before the public comment period was scheduled to end.

 

Since then, the DEQ has been swamped with emails about the request.

 

They’ve extended the public comment period for Nestle’s permit until December 3 and are planning to hold a public hearing.

 

Under Michigan law, water bottlers don’t have to pay for the water they pull out of the ground.

 

It’s free to them to pump and sell.