Help us try to limit water-bottling plant

By Steven Harvey

Flathead Valley residents, concerned about a proposed water bottling plant in Creston and its impact on the local agricultural community, are pursuing a countywide ballot initiative giving Flathead County voters a voice in the future of our valley’s farmland and water.

Members of the group, Yes! For Farms and Water, are gathering signatures to create Ballot Initiative 17-01. If approved by voters, the measure would expand the Egan Slough Zoning District by 530 acres, including the site of the proposed Montana Artesian Water Company bottling plant. Expansion of the zoning district could limit or preclude development of the water bottling plant. Our group must gather the signatures of at least 10,067 registered Flathead County voters by June 27 for the initiative to appear on the ballot. Anyone registered to vote in Flathead County is eligible to sign this petition.

The Egan Slough Zoning District was created in 2002 by petition of local landowners owning property in the proposed district, including the owner of the proposed bottling plant, to protect the rural and agricultural values of the area. In June 2016, neighbors of the proposed bottling plant petitioned the Flathead County commissioners to add their properties to the Egan Slough Zoning District to protect themselves from potential impacts to their wells, assure the viability of continued agricultural uses in the area, and prevent the overall environmental degradation and loss of property value that would follow development of a large water-export facility in this rural farming community. Despite overwhelming community support, the Flathead County commissioners denied the petition.

An analysis of the aquifer conducted by Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation estimated that more than 2,000 wells within a 6.8-mile radius of the bottling plant would be impacted. The untreated effluent from the annual manufacture of over 1.2 billion plastic bottles will be discharged into the nearby Flathead River.

The Montana Constitution gives the people the power to overturn a decision made by their elected officials, and that is what a small army of volunteers with Yes! For Flathead’s Farms and Water is working to do.

Persons interested in signing the petition or volunteering to collect signatures can learn more by viewing our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/yesforflatheadfarmsandwater/ or our website: www.yesforflathead.com

Harvey is a Creston area resident.