## Facts

- Nestlé Waters North America Inc. developed a bottled-water operation in Mecosta County, Michigan, acquiring rights to pump groundwater from an interconnected hydrologic system affecting Thompson Lake, the Dead Stream, Osprey Lake (an impoundment), and nearby wetlands.
- Nestlé constructed multiple high-capacity wells and planned large-volume withdrawals for commercial bottling.
- Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and individual riparian landowners along Thompson Lake and the Dead Stream alleged the pumping would lower groundwater levels and reduce surface-water flows.
- Plaintiffs claimed resulting harms included reduced stream and lake levels affecting recreation and enjoyment, increased water temperatures affecting aquatic life, and degradation of habitat and aesthetics.
- Plaintiffs sued under Michigan common-law riparian and groundwater doctrines (reasonable use) and the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA).
- After a bench trial with expert hydrology and ecology evidence, the circuit court found for plaintiffs and entered an injunction sharply limiting pumping; Nestlé appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs had standing to pursue claims under MEPA and Michigan common law based on alleged impacts from groundwater pumping on connected surface waters.
2. Whether large-scale commercial groundwater withdrawals that substantially affect connected surface waters constitute an unreasonable use under Michigan’s reasonable-use doctrine.
3. Whether Nestlé’s pumping caused or was likely to cause “pollution, impairment, or destruction” of natural resources under MEPA.
4. What equitable injunctive relief was appropriate if liability was established.

## Decision

- The Michigan Court of Appeals held plaintiffs had standing under MEPA and, for the individual plaintiffs, through their riparian interests in Thompson Lake and the Dead Stream.
- The court held that groundwater pumping substantially affecting connected surface waters implicates riparian rights and is governed by a reasonable-use balancing analysis.
- The court agreed that Nestlé’s planned pumping rates were unreasonable as to certain affected surface waters given the nature and degree of interference shown at trial.
- The court upheld MEPA liability based on evidence that pumping would cause or was likely to cause impairment of the Dead Stream and related resources, shifting the statutory burden to Nestlé to show no feasible and prudent alternative.
- The court modified the trial court’s broad injunction and remanded for a more tailored pumping regime designed to reduce harm while allowing limited operation.

## Legal Principles

- Groundwater use that substantially affects connected surface waters may be treated as implicating riparian rights and is evaluated under Michigan’s reasonable-use doctrine.
- Reasonable use is determined by balancing the utility of the defendant’s use against the extent, character, and foreseeability of harm to other riparian uses and to affected water resources, including consideration of feasible alternatives.
- Under MEPA, a plaintiff may seek equitable relief to protect natural resources from pollution, impairment, or destruction by showing actual or likely impairment; the defendant then must demonstrate no feasible and prudent alternative consistent with the public health, safety, and welfare.
- Injunctive relief in water-resource cases should be equitable and fact-specific, and may require operational limits (including seasonal or location-based limits) rather than a categorical prohibition.

## Conclusion

The Court of Appeals treated high-volume groundwater withdrawals that measurably reduce connected surface-water flows as subject to riparian reasonable-use limits and MEPA’s impairment standard, upheld liability on the trial record, and required that any injunction be calibrated to mitigate harm while permitting only such pumping as could occur without unreasonable interference or unlawful impairment.


Mich. Citizens for Water Conservation v. Nestlé Waters N. Am. Inc., 269 Mich. App. 25, 709 N.W.2d 174 (2005)