A group trying to block Nestlé from getting rights to siphon water from the Columbia Gorge has the go-ahead from Hood River County to start collecting signatures for their ballot initiative.

Citizen-led group Local Water Alliance (LWA) in September filed a ballot initiative that would prohibit large-scale water-bottling operations in the county.

The group started the effort in response to Nestlé's continued interest in getting water rights at Oxbow Springs, near the small town of Cascade Locks, where the company would like to build a plant for bottling and shipping water under their Arrowhead brand name.

“We are really excited to get the green light to start collecting signatures,” says LWA’s Campaign Director, Aurora del Val. “We have literally been getting hounded by people wanting to know when and where they could sign the petition to protect the future of our water supply. Like so many other counties in Oregon, we are a county in a drought, and we simply do not have the water to spare for Nestle or any other corporation that wants to use and bottle our water as their private water source.”

LWA plans to collect 2,000 signatures, more than four times the amount needed to get the issue on the ballot. They're planning their first signature gathering event this Thursday, Oct. 29 in downtown Hood River, according to a news release from del Val. Details for the event have not been released yet.

“People around the country are watching this ballot measure,” says Julia DeGraw, Senior Northwest Organizer for Food & Water Watch. “Communities everywhere are looking for ways to protect their scarce public water from being bottled and sold for corporate profit. It's exciting to see Hood River leading on this issue."