The Save Our Water Story was a decade-long effort by local community members to preserve Earth’s most precious resource: water.
It started in 2015 when Nestlé Waters Canada was seeking local water reservoirs to supply their bottling plant in Aberfoyle with daily shipments of 1.6 million litres of water.
However, local conservation efforts stood their ground, and in the following years Nestlé bottled up their North American water extraction efforts for good.
Nowadays the story is retold almost entirely in a new book; It Took A Community . . . and Ten Years | The Save Our Water Story by Jan Beveridge
Donna McCaw is out in the community marketing the novel and helped with its publication.
McCaw said it’s a story of success which they hope will inspire other communities approach local issues they may be facing.
Alongside Beveridge, McCaw is one of the founding members of Save Our Water, a Centre Wellington-based organization created in response to the looming threat of water extraction.
As detailed in the book local community members came together to face a universal issue threatening their home.
Conservation efforts, such as the members of Save Our Water, connected with scientists, national and international news outlets, religious groups, regional Indigenous communities, as well as municipal and provincial government officials to closely examine Centre Wellington and its water.
McCaw said meticulous records were kept along the way which results in a precise timeline of almost everything that happened regarding Nestlé’s interest on the Middlebrook Well.
The book also includes how the community addressed its local water supply through local art; photographer Sophie Hogan for example created roughly 300 posters featuring portraits of local residents with a personal message attached to each.
In 2025, almost exactly 10 years since Nestlé’s interest in the Middlebrook Well came to light, Centre Wellington purchased the property.
The story of Nestlé and Centre Wellington ended shortly after, but McCaw and Save Our Water want to keep story alive, and continue to recognize water as one of life’s most precious assets.
The book is available at the Bookery in Fergus, the County Museum, Home Hardware, the Cordial Clove and the Magic Pebble in Elora, the Bookshelf in Guelph, as well as occasional signed copies at the Elora Farmers’ Market.
