Editing Mecosta County, Michigan (section)

===Ice Mountain bottling plant===
In 2009, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation <!-- (MCWC) --> won their controversial case, The Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation v Nestle Waters North America, which had begun in 1999.<ref name="mcwc2009">{{Cite web |year=2009 |title=MCWC vs Nestlé Waters North America/Ice Mountain |url=http://www.savemiwater.org/mcwcvsnestle |publisher=Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC)}}</ref>  The Nestle/Perrier/Great Spring Waters of America/Ice Mountain bottling plant in Stanwood, Mecosta County, began production on May 23, 2002, extracting groundwater from the Muskegon aquifer that qualifies as a source of “spring water” under federal law. The <!-- Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation v Nestle Waters North America --> case has the potential of being one of the most important cases in terms of influencing and defining Michigan's water law jurisprudence. The decision involves the interpretation and application of the common law and several environmental statutes, mainly the [[Michigan Environmental Protection Act]], the [[Inland Lakes and Streams Act]], and the [[Wetland Protection Act]].<ref name="NestleIce">{{Cite report |url=http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135--83319--,00.html |title=Director Chester on the Nestle Ice Mountain Decision |publisher=Department of Environmental Quality, Government of Michigan |year=2003}}</ref> Citizens, disappointed by the inaction of the Michigan Department for Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and their disinclination to adequately monitor the bottling plant, had formed their own organization to conserve Michigan's water. For example, in 2003, the MDEQ, although they had determined that the bottling plant had already had a "measurable impact on certain waters and wetlands". MDEQ argued that "water levels in the impacted waters" in 2003 were at the "highest levels they have been in three years, thereby mitigating concern over possible imminent harm associated with Nestlé’s continued operation at a reduced rate of 250 gallons per minute (gpm) averaged over a monthly time period."<ref name="NestleIce" /> In 2009, an out-of-court settlement was reached. "Nestle/Ice Mountain’s water pumping permit was reduced by almost half. Nestlé agreed to lower its spring pumping in Mecosta earlier in the spring during fish spawning and continue low pumping during the summer months to protect the already stressed stream and lake."<ref name="mcwc2009" />