To Protect Our CT Water Now and for Future Generations, We Oppose the Sale of Water at a Discount to Niagara Bottling of California.  We ask you to:

1. Re-establish a citizen MDC (Metropolitan District Commission) watchdog committee to ensure that the MDC works openly with its citizen members to make the wisest decisions involving our water resources.  

2. Rescind the special discounts on water rates and special sewer service charges enacted by the MDC for large volume users (Niagara Bottling). Discounts for large volume users incentivize overuse, not conservation of a precious and limited public resource. Residents of MDC towns have paid for years for their water infrastructure and should not be the victims of rate discrimination.

3. Prioritize state residents in a drought and prohibit the export of water out of state in any Drought Emergency. Residents will be cutting water use while water bottling companies will be shipping it out-of-state.The DPH will step in only when our reservoirs are down to 10% capacity. Revise our state drought plan to protect residents.

4. Complete the State Water Plan before allowing any further large water sales. Prohibit any new water capacity agreements of over 250,000 gallons/day until a state water plan is in place. Require a water diversion permit for out-of-watershed transfers by trucks.

5. Enact a 1 cent per bottle tax on all bottled water to fund water infrastructure repair and the increased costs of recycling and pollution associated with bottled water. Billions of new single-use water bottles in CT spell environmental disaster for our landfills and waters.

MDC-served towns include: Bloomfield, Hartford, Windsor, East Hartford, Newington, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, and Windsor as well as sections of Farmington, Glastonbury, East Granby, and South Windsor.