BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- A judge has ordered the company that produces Ice Mountain bottled water to halt all water withdrawals in Mecosta County. Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Root, in a written decision released Tuesday, expressed concern that the water bottling operation has damaged neighboring lakes, streams and wetlands. In the suit that Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation filed in Mecosta County Circuit Court in June 2001, the group asked for a halt to production at the bottling facility in Mecosta Township near Stanwood. It also sought damages, claiming the plant's groundwater withdrawals violate state environmental protections and have harmed, or likely will harm, the environment and members of the citizen's group. The lawsuit said the plant's high-volume pumping would lower lake and stream levels near the wells from which Ice Mountain draws its water. The company operates four wells in Mecosta County's Morton Township and pumps the water about 13 miles southwest to the plant.
By JAMES PRICHARD The Associated Press 11/25/03 2:17 PM:
