If you live in Wisconsin, there’s a good chance you’ve stolen a refreshing sip from an artesian well. Nothing can beat that cold, fresh water bountifully flowing from the earth. But how much is fair, and environmentally sustainable, for you to take? Stealing a sip is nothing compared to stealing innumerable gallons to bottle into plastic bottles, ship throughout the country, and make a profit off this shared gift from the earth. The Great Lakes water is to be shared, and it does not belong to any one person to take or sell.
Profiting off shared water in Lake Superior’s watershed.
A private company, Kristle KLR, owned by Kristle Majchrzak and Robert Glau of Herbster, Wisconsin (Bayfield County) is hoping to move forward with a proposal to bottle and sell water from a private artesian well within Lake Superior’s watershed. While labeling their request for a conditional use permit as an “Irrigation Facility” it was later realized that the permit application was not meant to be used for that purpose. The proposal states they plan to capture and store the artesian well water in large underground tanks, then transport the water in tanker trucks to an off-site bottling facility in Superior, Wisconsin. From there, they plan to sell the plastic bottles of water to the Twin Cities, MN initially and then expand to the entire country.
Exploiting a legal loophole.
But how can this happen? Aren’t there laws in place to protect the waters of the Great Lakes so they can be shared by all surrounding states now and into the future? Yes, the Great Lakes Compact is an agreement signed in 2008 between the Great Lake states which protects the waters of the Great Lakes and bans the diversion of water out of the basin. However, there are limited exceptions, including how the water can leave the basin and in what size containers (must be 5.7 gallons or less). Therefore, Kristle KLR easily exploited this legal loophole by planning to transfer the water within the basin via tanker trunks from the artesian well and then bottling the water also within the basin. See how the water doesn’t “leave” the Great Lakes basin? Then, the owner can only transfer the water outside the basin in containers of 5.7 gallons or less. The thousands of water bottles being transported to sell outside the basin do not violate this Great Lakes Compact due to their individual volume, but given the amount of plastic being used, add to the harm this proposal will cause.
Beware the environmental impacts.
"Removing water from our watershed and packaging it in single use containers to then be sold across the United States is not sustainable, at some point the downstream impacts to Horseshoe Creek, Bark Slough, and ultimately Lake Superior will become obvious, and at that point it is too late to undo the damage," wrote Bayfield County Zoning Director Rob Schierman. This is frighteningly true. While the artesian well is technically on the property owned by Kristle Majchrzak & Robert Glau, the water is not confined only to their land, it is shared water from within the expansive Lake Superior watershed.
Items to consider:
- Kristle KLR has not stated how much water they plan to drain from the watershed. Without this knowledge, and an environmental impact study, how can we be sure they won’t deplete the watershed beyond repair?
- This may set a precedent for future landowners in the watershed to start their own artesian well water bottling company.
- Local tribes and treaties have not been consulted including the Red Cliff Band of the Lake Superior Ojibwe who strongly oppose this application.
- Increased pollution from the single-use plastic bottles can harm the environment in local areas.
Take action on or before July 29.
The initial proposal to the Bayfield County Planning and Zoning Commission by Kristle KLR to rezone their property was denied. Kristle KLR has now appealed to the Bayfield County Board of Adjustment, who, on July 29, will be taking testimony and voting on whether to overturn the decision.
- Attend the Thursday, July 29 Board of Adjustment Meeting. Read the agenda.
- Email comments against Kristle KLR's appeal before July 28th at noon to the Bayfield County Planning and Zoning office at: zoning@bayfieldcounty.wi.gov
- You can also submit comments through our site here.
Let Bayfield County Board of Adjustment know Lake Superior is not for sale! Share to social media using #LakeSuperiorNotforSale.