Groundwater pumping: When is it too much?

Gregory Fox crouched down to get a closer look at the percolating spring that gave rise to an unnamed brook, a tiny stream that snaked briefly through a pine and hardwood forest before reaching the White River.

Fox, who searches for new sources of spring water suitable for bottling under Nestle Waters' Ice Mountain label, gets excited by the sight of water bubbling out of the ground. It's a hint that he may be near the oil industry equivalent of a gusher.

Fox said this spring-fed stream northeast of White Cloud, and dozens of others like it near the headwaters of the White River, indicate there is abundant groundwater rising to the surface and flowing into the White, a state-protected trout stream.

Nestle hopes to pump spring water from that site in Newaygo County's Monroe Township and truck it to its Ice Mountain bottling plant in Stanwood.

"There are springs like this near the White River and many, many springs in the river," Fox said. "The question we're asking our scientists is, 'Is there an amount of groundwater that can be pumped that won't cause an adverse impact on the stream?"'

from the Muskegon Chronicle