01/11/07 By Jeff Alexander CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

WOODVILLE, Mich. -- Cold water is a hot topic in Newaygo County, where 150 people turned out Wednesday to protest Nestle Waters' bid to bottle and sell millions of gallons of spring water that currently feeds the White River.

No one at an emotionally charged meeting held by the Monroe Township Board of Trustees meeting spoke in favor of Nestle's plan to pump water from the White River watershed and sell it as Ice Mountain spring water.

Dozens of people blasted the project, saying it would endanger a state-protected, cold-water trout stream without providing any economic benefit to the community.

"I don't think anybody here wants to see you get your foot in the door," said Tom Cousineau, who lives along the river near Hesperia. "A trout stream is a fragile ecosystem. Why mess with it?"

Cousineau's comments triggered applause from the crowd, which spilled outside the Monroe Township hall. One person in the crowd shouted, "go back to Switzerland" at Nestle officials. Nestle, the parent company of Ice Mountain and Nestle Waters, is based in Switzerland.

Greg Fox, a natural resource manager for Nestle Waters, said the company "absolutely will not" harm the White River ecosystem if it pumps groundwater from the watershed.

"There is a great deal of water in the (river) system," Fox said. "We don't believe there will be an impact."

Fox said the company must complete a series of studies before seeking permission from local and state agencies to pump water from a privately owned site. Those studies will be complete later this year.

Critics, many of whom brought signs to the meeting that called Nestle's pursuit of water in the White River system a case of "greed," said they would fight to keep the company from sinking new wells in the area.

Newaygo County resident Samantha Jackson compared Nestle to the emerald ash borer and other foreign species that have wreaked havoc on Michigan's environment.

"Nestle is a foreign invader that is threatening our most precious resource," Jackson said. "No foreign company should be able to make money off what belongs to God and the people of Michigan."

Nestle officials said they need more wells in West Michigan to meet increased consumer demand for bottled spring water. Nestle is the world's largest water bottler, with 75 different labels.

The company opened its controversial Ice Mountain bottling facility in Stanwood in 2002. Nestle bottled 226 million gallons of Ice Mountain water last year; all of that groundwater, which comes from wells in rural Mecosta County and one of Evart's municipal wells, was extracted from the Muskegon River watershed.

Nestle is considering building a second bottling plant in Michigan, which could double production of Ice Mountain bottled water. Ice Mountain sales reached $253 million in 2005, according to company data.

The Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a lawsuit by a citizens group that claimed Nestle's groundwater pumping in Mecosta County caused harmful changes in nearby surface waters.

Terry Swier, president of the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation -- the group that sued Nestle -- said the company's arguments for pumping groundwater in Newaygo County were a case of "deja vu."

Fox said tests conducted last week indicated Nestle could pump large quantities of groundwater near the headwaters of the White without harming the river or its trout population. He said Michigan's 2006 water withdrawal law would prohibit the company from pumping water at a rate that caused an "adverse resource impact" by harming the river's trout population.

Fox said the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality would have the final say on any proposal by Nestle to pump spring water from the White River watershed. But he acknowledged that the DEQ's review of Nestle's proposal would be based largely on studies conducted by scientists the company has hired.

Monroe Township officials also will play a key role in the project. The township must rezone a privately owned parcel of land near the corner of Six Mile and Spruce roads before Nestle may pump or truck any water from the site.

"We have zoning regulations, but how they affect this project, I don't know," township Supervisor Joe Catalano said. "We represent the people."

The zoning issue could be significant: Nestle in 2000 abandoned plans to pump groundwater from a site near the Mecan River, a trout stream in Wisconsin, after local officials there refused to rezone the site to permit production wells.

After potential drilling sites near the Mecan River and another trout stream in Wisconsin did not work out, Nestle spokeswoman Deb Muchmore said the company shifted its search for spring water to Michigan.