Community Opposes Nestle Pure Life Bottling Plant
After Nestle’s plans to open a Pure Life bottling plant in west Phoenix were met with fervent community opposition, a petition urging officials to prevent planning from progressing any further has amassed about 80% of its goal of 50,000 signatures. A public meeting with city officials is scheduled for tomorrow at 2pm at the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon center in south Phoenix, KTAR News reports.
The Phoenix industrial market has been strong in the past year, attracting investors from around the country. This project would entail revamping a vacant warehouse (more industrial development here) to the tune of $35M. The plant would fill bottles with about 35 million gallons of water in its first year. That amount equates to the annual water usage of approximately 200 Phoenix households.
The city claims to use only about two-thirds of its available resources from the Colorado River and only half of those from its Salt River Project. City officials argue the city tap-water supply could last for decades despite regional drought, citing the importance of attracting manufacturing jobs. Nestle expects the plant to create 40 to 50 jobs, according to AZ Central.
