Nestle Waters North America's controversial plan to pump spring water from a site near the headwaters of the White River has been halted by the world's largest food and bottled water company.

Nestle, which bottles water in Michigan under the Ice Mountain label, announced Thursday that it was not moving forward with the investigation of the site in Newaygo County's Monroe Township because its initial scientific assessments indicate a different mineral composition than spring water currently bottled as Ice Mountain.

"We undertake a rigorous process to bring any one of our spring water sources on line and select only those that meet our criteria," said Greg Fox, Nestle Waters Midwest natural resource manager. "To make a prudent decision regarding the significant financial investment we would make in developing the site, we must be confident that the outcomes of scientific studies and the amount of water we would likely propose to use support our decision."

The company had not yet submitted a formal proposal to pump spring water from the White River watershed, but it had made its intentions known. The proposal generated much opposition from residents and local officials in the watershed.

The White River Watershed Partnership, a citizens group formed to protect the White River, adopted a resolution last month that opposed any large scale water withdrawal from the watershed because of its alleged impact. The partnership's resolution claimed the withdrawal could endanger the river's fish population, lower water levels in White Lake, disrupt recreational activities and undermine efforts to protect the river.

Tom Thompson, chairman of the partnership, said his group is "very pleased" with the company's decision to end its pursuit of pumping at the Monroe Township site.

"We're pleased and, I guess, surprised, too," said Thompson. "They've been looking at this site for a couple of years. You would have thought they would have reached this point before now."

Despite the opposition from many area residents, Nestle officials pointed to the tax revenue the project would have generated for Monroe Township and the state, along with the potential job growth by Ice Mountain.

"We appreciate the opportunity to assess the site, and the willingness of the community to learn more about our proposed project and the scientific process we use in developing a source," said Fox.

If the company's investigation had continued and its proposal was approved, Nestle's project could have resulted in the company pumping tens of millions of gallons of spring water from the White River watershed each year. That water would be trucked 25 miles to Nestle's Ice Mountain bottling facility in Stanwood and eventually sold across the Midwest.

Nestle opened its Ice Mountain bottling facility in Stanwood in 2002. The company 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 the city of Evart's municipal wells, was extracted from the Muskegon River watershed.

Thursday's announcement does not affect the company's plans to start pumping water at a different West Michigan site. The state approved earlier this year Nestle's plans to pump 70 million gallons of spring water annually from a site near the headwaters of two trout streams that flow into the Muskegon River near Evart.