Washington State Senate approves legislation to stop all new permits for bottled water withdrawals

Olympia, WA – On February 18th, the Washington State Senate passed a bill that would, “ban water withdrawals for commercial bottled water production.”

According to Food and Water Watch, Senate Bill 6278, sponsored by Sen Carlyle, would ban new water rights permits for withdrawals for bottled water extraction.

The bill states that “any use of water for the commercial production of bottled water is deemed to be detrimental to the public welfare and the public interest.”

If passed by the House and signed by the Governor, the bill would apply to all permit applications for new water withdrawal, including a proposal by Crystal Geyser.

In 2018, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians passed a historic resolution opposing the privatization of water laying the ground work for SB 6278.

The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, which includes representatives of, and advocates for, American Indians/Alaska Natives and tribes in the states of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Northern California, and Alaska, passed the resolution that recognizes that water is essential to all life and opposes the privatization of municipal watersheds.

Resolution #18-53 states that it;

• Recognizes that water is essential to all life;
• Recognizes that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water, adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes;
• Recognizes the rights of nature to exist free from exploitation

Resolution author, Matt Remle (Lakota), states, “As corporations like Nestle and the fracking industry seek to privatize watersheds, it is necessary for Tribes and other communities to be proactive in the protection of their watersheds from privatization and exploitation.

Mni wiconi, water, is a source of life not a source for corporate profit and exploitation. This resolution puts Northwest Tribes at the forefront of protecting watersheds from privatization and takes the additional step in recognizing that nature too has a right to exist free from exploitation.

I look forward to the passage of SB 6278 and protecting mni wiconi from exploitation.”

The legislation now moves to the Washington State House of Representatives.