Water is Saved! Here’s the story:

April 2015

Nestlé planned on taking 1.6 million litres of groundwater daily from the Middlebrook Well west of Elora and trucking it to their plant in Aberfoyle for bottling.

The whole community rallied: organized, researched, marched, protested, wrote letters, put up lawn signs, raised funds and worked hard to ensure that Nestlé would NEVER take this water!

August 2016

Centre Wellington put a counter-offer on the property, but Nestlé firmed up their conditional offer and bought the well.

December 2016

This situation caused the Ministry to call a halt on any new permits to take groundwater in Ontario for bottling while the province studied Ontario’s water availability. This 2-year moratorium would last 4½ years.

May 2018

Centre Wellington Council voted to ensure local water remained a public trust and resolved that the Township is not a willing host to water taking for bottling.

November 2019

The Ministry’s study determined Centre Wellington was at ‘Significant Risk’ for future water sources to service its growing population.

March 2021

Nestlé sold its North American water bottling business to a new company, BlueTriton, which became the new owner of the Middlebrook property.

The community persisted in lobbying, educating and updating the media, residents and politicians, keeping the story alive.

April 2021

The Ministry enacted new veto legislation, which says NO water bottling company anywhere in Ontario can apply for a large-scale water permit if the municipality says NO.

January 2025

BlueTriton shut down the Aberfoyle bottling plant, put their properties and operation up for sale and left Ontario.

 

Through these years, not a drop of water was taken from the Middlebrook Well for bottling.

All this was excellent news, but now the best news!

April 2025

The Township of Centre Wellington announced they purchased the Middlebrook Well.

This ends the decade-long saga – from April 2015 to April 2025 – and protects this water source once and for all.