Update 2021-02-09: Back to Live Oak and online: SRWMD Nestle Special Meeting 2021-02-23.

Update 2020-03-09: Nestlé pulled from the agenda.

See in these videos 32 people speak to the SRWMD board, against Nestlé’s Ginnie Springs permit, and not a single one for, after a rally outside, in December 2019. Plus 384,000 signatures delivered by Allison Guy of SumofUs.

That permit is on the agenda for tomorrow morning, 9AM, Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at SRWMD HQ in Live Oak.

SRWMD staff recommend denial, but they did back in 2003 when the Madison Blue Spring permit was originally granted, and the SRWMD Board approved it anyway.

So come speak your mind. Come early: SRWMD is expecting so many people they’re setting up expansion space inside, and their parking will fill up quickly. Facebook event.

No to Nestle!

The Suwannee River Water Management District Board may never have heard from a mermaid before. Many other speakers were new to this venue, such as 14-year-old Isaac Augspurg.

Others were old hands, such as Our Santa Fe River (OSFR) president Mike Roth, past president Pam Smith, Historian Jim Tatum, and of course Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson.

Several WWALS members spoke, including several of the above, and Chris Mericle, Garth Brewster, and Maxine Connor.

Valdosta spill; No Nestle permit –Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman

The only speaker to cause an audible gasp from the audience was me, when I revealed that Valdosta had spilled again, 7.5 million gallons of raw sewage, upstream from Madison Blue Spring. Much more about that on the WWALS website.

I hand-delivered to SRWMD board and staff copies of the WWALS letter against Nestlé permits.

Below are links to each WWALS video of each speaker, followed by a WWALS video playlist. Please share these videos on your social media and other places.

• Merrillee, you need to be in here! Against Nestle
  

  Video.

• A Valdosta sewage spill upstream from Madison Blue Spring –Suwannee Riverkeeper
  

  Video.

• Public interest: no Nestle withdrawal –Michael Roth, Pres. Our Santa Fe River
  

  Video.

• 384,000 signatures against Nestle permit –Allison Guy, SumofUs
  

  Video.

• Convenience, not necessity & out of watershed, Nestle –Mike Roth, pres. OSFR
  

  Video.

• Our home under attack by Nestle –Isaac Augspurg
  

  Video.

• Say no to Nestle! –All
  

  Video.

• Order, invocation, pledge
  

  Video.

• Nestle not on agenda today but you can speak
  

  Video.

• Public Comment Against Nestle
  

  Video.

• Fled south Florida to Ginnie Springs, now Nestle –Jim O’Brien
  

  Video.

• Grassroots in England got Nestle out for grandchildren –Lucy Anstey
  

  Video.

• Draw the line against Nestle -Pam Smith, past Pres. OSFR
  

  Video.

• Support our rights, not the cancer of Nestle –Kristin Rubin, OSFR
  

  Video.

• Alexander von Humbolt predicted this (the Invention of Nature) –Martha Strawn
  

  Video. Eel grass is gone. Science may not see the big picture of ecology. The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humbolt’s New World, by Andrea Wulf.

• We’ll make sure the absent board member gets a copy
  

  Video.

• Nestle just wants money for investors extracted from our waters –Russ Augsburg
  

  Video.

• Adults in charge: do not grant Nestle permit –Isaac Augspurg, age 14
  

  Video.

• These springs affect all of Florida –Michelle Colson, mermaid from Ocala
  

  Video.

• Legal basis for denial or revocation of Nestle permit –Jim Tatum, OSFR Historian
  

  Video.

• Three daughters, one FFA pres. –Lindsey Dank, 226,208 signatures, Change.org
  

  Video.

• Valdosta spill; No Nestle permit –Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman
  

  Video.

• All these people love the rivers and springs –Garth Brewster against Nestle
  

  Video.

• 384,000 signatures against Nestle permit –Allison Guy, SumofUs
  

  Video.

• Stopped 4 bottling permits, now stop Nestle –Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson OSFR
  

  Video.

• TMDLs, flows, BMAPs, Outstanding FL Waters, etc. –Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, OSFR
  

  Video.

• Tip of iceberg public opposition to Nestle –Katrina Shadix, Bear Warriors United
  

  Video.

• Want us to give our water away; makes no sense –candidate for FL Senate 5
  

  Video.

• No public interest, Nestle permit –Jane Blais, ex OSFR board
  

  Video.

• 10 minute break
  

  Video.

• Huge high plains drawdowns: no Nestle from our spring aquifer –Laura Dailey
  

  Video.

• Quantity gravely diminishing; no water for Nestle –? drove an hour
  

  Video.

• Population pressure; do your due diligence -?
  

  Video.

• Native Floridian has seen decline of waterways, esp. Withlacoochee–Chris Mericle
  

  Video.

• Three prong test for public interest; no Nestle –Lucinda Merritt
  

  Video.

• Conservation continues to be necessary; no Nestle permit –Hilda Gilchrist
  

  Video.

• My name is Karen Mullins, I live in Fort White
  

  Video.

• Foreign company stealing our water; no Nestle song –Karen Mullins
  

  Video.

• Assault OK as long as only percent harm? No Nestle! –Mike Roth, pres. OSFR
  

  Video.

• Change the paradigm to eco-jurisprudence; no Nestle –Kate Gallagher, Melrose
  

  Video.

• Springs and agriculture; no Nestle –Carollee ?
  

  Video.

• Needs (sustainability) vs. wants (profits); No Nestle–Maxine Conner, Sierra Club
  

  Video.

• Expansion of Chemours titanium mine on SRWMD land , Bradford County–Paul Still
  

  Video.

• Thanks speakers, water for nature & water for economy –Hugh Thomas, E.D., SRWMD 2019-12-10
  

  Video.

Here’s a WWALS video playlist:

Citizens about Nestle at SRWMD 2019-12-10
Videos by John S. Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS),

Many thanks to Jim Tatum for recording most of the speaker names in Hundred of Thousands Sign Against Nestle/Seven Springs Permit.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

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