For Immediate Release - November 19, 2018

Guelph-Wellington – On Wednesday November 21, the Wellington Water Watchers will host their Annual General Meeting (AGM) from 6-9pm at Red Papaya, in the Old Quebec St. Mall, Guelph. The business meeting will be from 6pm – 6:30 pm followed by the public meeting at 7pm. All are welcome to join the public meeting. Please RSVP here.

We are excited to announce that Eryn Wise of Seeding Sovereignty will be our guest speaker. The title of her talk is “Defend It Yourself!”. Eryn Wise currently lives on occupied Tongva territory in Los Angeles as a guest from the Jicarilla Apache Nation and Laguna Pueblo people. She is the Communications and Digital Director for Seeding Sovereignty.

You can read more here about the role of Honor the Earth in the organizing at Standing Rock. Ensuring a future for generations to come is a duty and responsibility to her, and she focuses the traditional teachings of her foremothers on the intersectional challenges faced by the prodigies she works with. She aims to do all her work in homage to her ancestors whose resistance ensured her existence. She is a human being, just like you. 

In addition to hearing from Eryn, we will also celebrate all that we have accomplished together in the last year - and prepare ourselves for the challenges that lie ahead.

We have many accomplishments to celebrate this year.

• We supported GETconcerned in their successful campaign to stop the Xinyi proposal for a float glass production facility that would have extracted 1.6 million litres per day of groundwater.

• Municipal election candidates made pledges to support the Groundwater Action Agenda to which we will hold them accountable

• Wellington Water Watchers supported the Grand River Water Walk.

• The 2 Rivers Festival was an even bigger success this year

• The moratorium on new permits to take water for bottling has been extended by 1 year

The coming year will be crucial in our fight to stop the renewal of Nestlé’s permits to take water in Aberfoyle and Hillsburgh and to ensure that Nestlé never receives approval for the Middlebrook well in Elora.

Nestlé’s expansion into the Haldimand Tract, with the purchase of the Middlebrook well, and emerging relationships with water watchers in Six Nations is bringing renewed urgency to the need to find appropriate ways to support struggles for water security and water justice at Six Nations and in other indigenous communities in the Grand River watershed. 

The Concerned Residents Coalition of Rockwood will be appearing before the Ontario Municipal Board in May to make the case to Stop the Hidden Quarry. Wellington Water Watchers is supporting their campaign to mobilize public opinion against this proposal.

The Protect Our Moraine Coalition advocates for sensitive low density development of the Clair-Maltby neighbourhood at the south end of Guelph. WWW support for this coalition, plus our work to protect and expand the Greenbelt is important to ensuring the future water security for this region.

“Wellington Water Watchers is only able to support these water protection initiatives with the active support of our fellow water watchers,” stated Arlene Slocombe, Executive Director of Wellington Water Watchers. “Supporters are invited to come celebrate our accomplishments and renew pledges to protect water now and for future generations.”

 

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About Wellington Water Watchers 

Founded in 2007, Wellington Water Watchers (WWW) is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization based in Guelph, Ontario, with a focus on the Grand River watershed. 

WWW is committed to the protection, restoration and conservation of groundwater. WWW works to affect local water policy and protect water sources. WWW also sponsors and supports guest speakers, debates, and are actively encouraging bottled-water free community events.