By Mark Bethune
Jan. 28, 2009
Nestlé Waters North America (Nestlé) initiated discussions with the City of Orting in spring 2008 as a part of the company’s efforts to develop a new spring water bottling facility in the Pacific Northwest. Nestlé was looking to build and operate a facility in the Pacific Northwest to meet regional market needs.
As part of Nestlé’s due diligence when siting any new facility, Nestlé performed a scientific evaluation of Orting’s Wingate Spring as a potential source for a spring water bottling plant. As results of the analysis of Orting’s watershed are compared with other potential spring water sources in the Northwest, there are other sites that best meet Nestlé’s long-term need for protection from the effects of long-term development patterns in the spring watershed. Therefore, Nestlé has determined it will not be looking further at the Wingate Springs water source and is no longer planning to pursue building its new bottling facility in Orting.
“We are disappointed as we had hoped to bring more employment to our City, and Nestles’ staff had proven themselves easy to work with,” said Mayor Cheryl Temple. “The process had been completely open to the public, who were invited to ask questions and make comments during council meetings when Nestlé was on the agenda.”
Nestlé informed the City that it was very appreciative of the council’s and staff’s efforts and professionalism during the evaluation process. They noted how open the City and the community were to the idea of bringing new business to Orting. They were particularly impressed with the City’s commitment to informing the citizens of Orting about the process and keeping the public’s interest at the forefront.
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