Hood River residents are fighting a plan by Nestle to collect and bottle water.
Steven Depolo/Flickr
Hood River residents are taking another step to try to stop Nestle from bottling local water.
A group called the ‘Local Water Alliance’ filed for a ballot measure to ban bottled water operations in the county.
Alliance spokeswoman and teacher, Aurora del Val, said when the county is facing drought conditions, the idea of trucking-out millions of gallons of water in mountains of plastic bottles, seems irresponsible. “You know the fact is that Nestle has not ensured a single job," she said.
"They've been throwing some numbers around. But we're really concerned that by having Nestle here, it will have a impact on the large number of existing jobs that need the water supply. So again the farms and the fish," she said.
She said they need to collect 664 signatures to put the measure on the ballot next year, a job she said will be easy as they've already collected more signatures for a letter to Gov. Kate Brown.
Oregon is home to more than 30 water bottling plants, but this would be the first to use spring water owned by the state.
Calls and emails to Nestle weren’t immediately returned but the company has issued a statement in the past saying it’s concerned how drought affects people and it is committed to be a responsible steward of water resources.