Details emerge in Nestle water plant plan

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - It's a plan that will bring new business and new jobs to the valley. But not everyone is on board with the plan. Now more details are coming out about Nestle's Water Bottling Plant coming to Phoenix, and why critics insist its a bad idea. When Nestle announced it would be building a new plant in Phoenix, Sabrina Reed immediately went to Change.org and created a petition. She and many others are concerned that the bottling plant will drain our water resources, but representatives from the city say that's not the case.

"It just seems like an unnecessary risk with the uncertainty of climate change going on right now, and we're in a drought, and we're barely getting any rain," said Sabrina Reed.

Since Friday, her petition has received over 1,800 signatures. City of Phoenix Water Services Director, Kathryn Sorensen says this city has plenty of water resources, and Nestle will pay for them just like anyone else.

"This particular customer (Nestle) will use about 1/10 the amount that our largest user uses on an annual basis," said Kathryn Sorensen.

The City of Phoenix Community and Economic Development Director Christine MacKay says the plant will create 45-50 well paying jobs, with hundreds more in the future.

"For each job they create it creates somewhere from 3-5 jobs elsewhere in the community, and that's done by people who come in to work on the equipment and scientists who are testing the water," said MacKay.

"40-50 jobs is not worth putting our most precious natural resource in the hands of a big company like that," said Reed.

The city says that under state law, the amount of water Nestle will use is confidential. The city says it did not offer Nestle any tax breaks or incentives to come to Phoenix.