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A national Web site urges a boycott of parent company Nestle, saying the bottler is damaging the environment.
By BRADY DENNIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 11, 2000
ZEPHYRHILLS -- After humming their tune of Perrier protest locally for years, water activists have teamed with a chorus of protesters across the country to create a nationwide Web site supporting a boycott of Nestle, the parent company of Perrier.
Saving America's Water.Com (http://www.saveamericaswater.com), unveiled Tuesday, is the brainchild of grass-roots groups in Wisconsin as well as Zephyrhills activist Terri Wolfe.
"My dream has always been to have a national Web site," said Wolfe, president of the group Save Our Springs. "Unfortunately, we didn't have any money. Wisconsin had money, so they paid for it."
Alice McCombs, a Wisconsin activist and the site's Webmaster, said she hoped the site would make citizens aware of Perrier's business practices. Environmental activists say Perrier harms areas' water resources by pumping too much.
"We hope it will bring a push for much stronger regulation (of Perrier)," McCombs said. "But at the very least, we want to make Perrier act responsibly."
Wolfe puts it more bluntly.
"We're going to expose them on a national level, and they'll just have to clean up their act," she said. "(This site) is incredible. It will tell our story."
In addition to urging a boycott, the site includes a set of links to seven states -- Florida, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Texas -- where activists have clashed with Perrier or one of its subsidiaries.
Meg Andronaco, spokeswoman for Zephyrhills Spring Water Co., couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.