Looking to Become Part of the Community, Nestle Waters Donates to Area in Need

With hopes of building a bottling plant in Centre County, Nestle Waters came to the aid of county residents in need recently. Last week, the company gave 1,600 cases of free bottled water to more than 600 families in the Mountaintop community after leaks in the water lines have left some residents without clean drinking water.

For weeks, the Mountaintop Regional Water Authority, which serves Snow Shoe Borough, Snow Shoe Township and Burnside Township, has been dealing with a damaged water infrastructure, with leaks and low water levels. Residents were on a boil water advisory for nearly two weeks until it was lifted on Tuesday, and Nestle Waters helped relieve some of that burden.

Eyeing Benner and Spring townships as potential locations for a bottling factory, Nestle has been testing the water in the Spring Creek watershed, said Eric Andreus, Nestle Waters’ natural resource manager in the Mid-Atlantic. Andreus said the company is committed to working with any community that it is in, and the donation of water is one example of that.

“Nestle Waters is committed to being good stewards of the resource, and a positive presence in the community,” said Andreus.

He said volunteering to teach watershed education, partnering with environmental groups and making various donations to community groups is just a part of the positive affect a company like Nestle Waters can have on the community.

Community members were glad to get the help, as buying bottled water can be expensive, said state Rep. Mike Hanna. Hanna worked with more than 50 volunteers to distribute the donated water to people in Snow Shoe, Clarence, Moshannon and Pine Glen.

“While not an established business in the county, I am grateful for Nestle Waters’ generosity and pleased to see them step forward when they saw our community in need,” said Hanna.

He said efforts are being made to correct the issue, but that it will take some time, so the donation is appreciated.

With the trouble in the Mountaintop community, the idea of selling water from another county community may cause some residents to worry, although the Spring Creek watershed is a different source than the one from the Mountaintop Regional Water Authority. Andreus said the company is running extensive tests to make sure the Spring Creek watershed won’t have any adverse effect from the bottling lines, and as of now all indications are that it can handle that usage.

The company hopes to buy water from the Spring Township Water Authority, and Andreus said the two bottling lines would require 300 gallons of water per minute. While this may sound like a lot, Andreus said it accounts for .3 percent of the total amount of water output from Spring Creek.

“This is a relatively small amount of the total resource available in the water shed,” said Andreus.

The proposed factory in Benner or Spring township would require 50 full-time workers, and potential other part-times jobs may be available, said Andreus. After their testing of the water shed is complete, the company hopes to have a community meeting to address concerns from the community and answer questions about potential jobs in the next two months, but no time or place has yet been set.