Developers of a proposed water-bottling plant that sparked an outcry in Presque Isle, Wis., are on track now to begin similar production this November in Marenisco, Mich., according to a township supervisor.
Formerly known as the Carlin Water Company, the company is now labeled Superior Springs, LLC. Well-known grocer Tregve “Trig” Solberg is one of the plant’s developers. Solberg plans to sell Superior Springs bottled water in his grocery stores and gasoline service stations, as well as in outlets across the nation. No decision has been made on branding the bottles.
It’s only a 10-mile drive from Presque Isle to Marenisco, where the welcome mat for Superior Springs was out immediately after the water-bottling proposal boiled over in Presque Isle.
Marenisco Township supervisor Dick Bouvette says he invited the developers to consider Marenisco after the Presque Isle town board refused their request to rezone the property in order to build a plant near Hwys. B and W. Presque Isle citizens had loudly opposed rezoning plans – 153 to 12 at a public hearing – for the plant, which would use water from the nearby Carlin Club’s well for bottling. Their chief fear was a reduction in the aquifer level.
But the Marenisco township board viewed the proposed plant in a different light. It gave the developers 10 acres of land to build and extended sewer and water lines, all at no cost. The plant site has 3-phase electrical and natural gas service. Bouvette says the developers will have an on-site well at the plant. They can also draw water from the Carlin Club well without needing a county permit, according to Vilas County Zoning Administrator Dawn Schmidt. She bases that on a July 26, 2016 memorandum from Vilas County Corporation Counsel Martha Milanowski. “You’ve asked me to further review the (Carlin Club property) as to whether the proposed activity – pumping of water from a private well for the purpose of bottled water and transporting water off-site – constitutes a violation of the county’s zoning ordinance,” Milanowski wrote. “You had earlier issued a letter to the Carlin Club properties in May 2015 stating that the proposed use constituted an illegal change in use. “Upon further review of the proposed plan and the property’s current grandfathered use of resort, bar and restaurant, it is my opinion that the proposed plan does not violate the county’s zoning ordinance and is not a new use inconsistent with the property’s present grandfathered use.” And, she added, “...transporting of water from the property’s private well, in a truck, to an off-site location does not represent an expansion of their present non-conforming grandfathered use.” Since the county does not regulate pumping of water, she suggested any concerns be forwarded to the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). There are potentially two different issues for the developers from the viewpoint of the Wisconsin DNR, but neither comes into play. First the well: as long as the owner pumps less than 100,000 gallons of water per day from a private well, no permit is needed, says Steve Ales, deputy director for the DNR’s Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater. Secondly, trucking water from Presque Isle to Marenisco does not violate terms of what’s known as the Great Lakes Compact because the water is still within the Lake Superior Basin, says Chris Fuchsteiner, a DNR program and policy analyst.
“You couldn’t fill up a tanker truck (with Lake Superior Basin water) and transport it to the Mississippi River Basin,” he said. Bottled water leaving the Lake Superior Basin, however, must be in containers no more than 5.7 gallons, he explains, to meet the Compact’s requirements.
Bouvette said the water-bottling plant would inject some much-needed jobs in this township of 1,600 people. The community of Marenisco is located just south of the U.S. Hwy. 2 and MI-64 intersection. The jobs, he says, will pay well. While lumber mills have been its heritage, there has been no such operations in the township for quite some time despite timber companies owning hundreds of thousands of acres of township land. A sawmill that once was a major employer ceased operations in the 1970s. The township’s current major employer is the Ojibway Correctional Facility, which has some 250 employees. Bouvette said he was told the company would hire 8 to 12 workers initially for one shift; in a year, the plant could have upwards of 30 workers working three shifts. Earlier discussions indicate the plant would process 6,000 gallons of bottled water per 8-hour shift. The plant would produce its own 500-milliliter and 1-liter plastic bottles using a pneumatic blow-molding process.
Bouvette echoed assertions by the developers made earlier at Presque Isle meetings that the plant would not produce any hazardous waste or emit noxious fumes from the bottling operation or the plastic bottle making process. The steel building being constructed is 100 by 240 feet long. Developers have told Bouvette they would build another similar building if all goes well. Bouvette noted a previous board administration created a tax-free economic development enterprise called a “Renaissance Zone” just south of Marenisco to attract manufacturers and their jobs. The result was less than stellar – just a handful of jobs. The Renaissance Zone was dissolved. This time, he hopes, the outcome will be much more positive for Marenisco. .
