Water and Niagara Bottling

In Plainfield, we get our water from 3 treatment plants and 8 ground wells (see reference).

These wells are drilled in to the aquifers that lie below the land. An aquifer is a body of rock and/or sediment that holds ground water. The aquifers that lie below Plainfield can be found here.

In 2009, Niagara Bottling announced that it was opening a manufacturing plant in Plainfield, with a planned investment of $37 million. Along with providing 37 jobs, the water bottling company planned on buying 300,000 gallons of water daily. See article here.

The Plainfield Town Council gave tax abatements to Niagara Bottling to encourage and support opening a bottling facility in Plainfield.

Tax abatements are financial incentives local governments offer to stimulate development, revitalization or economic growth in designated areas. By providing investors with tax savings, they have the potential to lower project costs and enhance profitability.

The Indiana Department of Local Finance (see reference) defines personal and real property tax abatements as:

Personal property abatement = A property tax deduction from the assessed valuation granted by a designating body for the installation of qualifying abatable equipment in an Economic Revitalization Area (ERA). Can be for manufacturing, research & development, information technology, and logistical distribution. Note: a farmer does not qualify for this abatement; neither does a retail location.

Real property abatement = A property tax deduction from the assessed valuation granted by the designating body for the construction of a new structure or a rehabilitation of property in an ERA. (It does not include land.)

The Plainfield Town Council passed the following Resolutions detailing the tax abatements given to Niagara Bottling:

2009-20: Niagara Bottling Personal Property Tax Abatement

2010-20: Waiver of Noncompliance for Niagara Bottling

2011-08: Niagara Bottling Real Property Tax Abatement

2011-09: Niagara Bottling Personal Property Tax Abatement

2013-15: Niagara Bottling LLC Personal Property Tax Abatement

2013-16: Niagara Bottling Real Property Tax Abatement

2013-19: Niagara Bottling Personal Property Tax Abatement

2013-20: Niagara Bottling Personal Property Tax Abatement

2016-01: Declaratory Niagara Personal Property Tax (PP) Abatement

2016-04: Confirmatory Niagara PP Tax Abatement

These 9 abatements are summarized below:

Assessed Value (AV) is the total dollar value assigned to real property and improvements and personal property subject to taxation.

The abatement schedules are defined below:

Niagara Bottling received tax abatements to provide the following employment opportunities in Plainfield:

In 2018, Niagara Bottling expanded the Plainfield facility with a $6.1 million investment to increase production capacity. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) offered Niagara Bottling up to $50,000 in tax credits. See article here.

The Town of Plainfield passed additional Resolutions giving additional tax abatements to Niagara Bottling:

2018-30: Amendment to Personal Property Tax Abatement - Niagara B

2018-32: Confirmatory to Amend Personal Property Tax Abatement - Niagara

The resolutions are summarized below:

The Town Council has designated the area where Niagara Bottling is located as an Economic Revitalization Area (ERA). An ERA is defined as an area that is within the corporate limits of a city, town, or county that has become undesirable for, or impossible of, normal development and occupancy.

Because Niagara Bottling is within an economic development area, Niagara Bottling pays less money for the water they use than what you pay for water.

Local Ordinance 52.028 Economic Development Rates has set the rate for water as for ERA areas as:
$2.48 per 1,000 gallons for the first 10,000 gallons of water
$1.80 per 1,000 gallons for over 10,000 gallons of water

Residential customers (i.e., YOU) pay $3.04 per 1,000 gallons of water used. This is an additional $1.24 per 1,000 gallons of water than what Niagara Bottling pays. See how your water bill is calculated here.

In case of a water emergency (e.g., a drought), the President of the Town Council can declare the need for rationing water. Local Ordinance 53.03 Declaration of Need for Water Conservation, sets the limits for how much water can be used.

For residential: use shall be limited to 105 gallons per unit (e.g., house) per day (that's an average of 3 bath tubs of water per day).

For business, commercial, and industrial: users shall be limited to 65% of the water used the previous month.

Editorial Thoughts and Comments by Kim White

I believe water is one of the most valuable resources on the planet.

You're probably wondering why I am focusing my efforts on water and Niagara Bottling.

This topic has been on my mind since attending the 2022 Citizen's Academy sessions.

There's four main reasons why I've looked in to this:

Water use and costs
Single-use plastic bottles and environmental impact
Loss of tax revenue and employee wages
Restrictions during a water emergency

1. Water Use and Costs

Here's what I've learned:

there are 5 manufacturing lines at Niagara
there are 2 manufacturing shifts a day
each line takes 2 employees to run it
the #1 manufacturing line bottles 600,000 - 500 ml (16.9 fl. oz.) bottles per shift
the remaining lines a little less

So, let's estimate HOW MUCH WATER IS BEING TAKEN FROM OUR AQUIFERS AT A STEAL OF A DEAL PRICE.

Note: calculations assume that:

each manufacturing line does approximately 10% less than the previous line
all lines are running 5 days per week
all lines are running 52 weeks per year
1.32 liters of water is required to manufacture 1.0 liter of water (reference)

Over 871,768 gallons of water a day is being taken from our water system every day that Niagara is running. This is almost 3 times the amount Niagara had said they would use a day in 2009.

This translates to over 226 Million gallons of water taken from Plainfield aquifers a year.

I've asked the Town for how much water remains in our wells - see Access to Information March 3, 2023, request #5, and how much water Niagara Bottling was taking from our aquifers. Not surprisingly, I did not get a response to my questions - except that the pipe going in to their manufacturing facility is 8 inch.

Now, just because we may have water in our aquifers today, does not mean that we should just give it away. And just like a river, what is done upstream affects the downstream. We could be affecting water in other towns around us and in private wells for people who do not have access to public water services. It would be naive of us to think that allowing such a large volume of water to be taken daily from our aquifers does not impact others negatively. Think about the Colorado River and how many areas are supported by that water source and the issues that face it today: overuse and drought (reference). Our aquifers are like underground rivers; this could become us one day.

Think about how much you pay for a bottle of water. Should our Town give the water away to Niagara, or any other bottled water manufacturer, so they can charge us an arm and a leg for it? At a minimum they should have to pay the same if not more per gallon of water than you or I do. IF we made water expensive enough to manufacture, eventually we would stop buying bottles of water so frivolously.

And, why should we pay $1.24, per 1,000 gallons, more than Niagara? NOT FAIR -- ESPECIALLY SINCE WE HAVE GIVEN THEM THESE TAX ABATEMENTS.

2. Single-Use Plastic Bottles and Environmental Impact

I believe there is a SERIOUS PROBLEM that we, the human race, are causing by our use of plastic bottles.

From the fossil fuels needed to manufacture and distribute plastic bottles, to the cluttered landfills, waterways, and oceans, plastic bottles are not a good thing.

I could link you to various references, but just Google it yourself. You'll find that most resources say that we only recycle 12% of the water bottles we use. That leaves 88% that are thrown away. Convert that to how many bottles a day Niagara is manufacturing a day and you get 4.4 million bottles a day that will end up somewhere other than a recycling bin. Continue to do the math...1.1 Billion bottles a year. With 23 - 16 oz bottles in 1 pound, that's 49.8 million pounds of waste a year that comes out of Plainfield and will end up in a landfill somewhere. Insanity.

And - it's funny - if you buy Niagara bottles of water - you're drinking Plainfield water that you could make for a lot less at home.

3. Loss of Tax Revenue and Employee Wages

Let's talk about the loss of tax revenue for a minute. As you've seen above, we given quite a few tax abatements to Niagara.

These abatements have been given to two business entities in the Resolutions above:

Niagara Bottling (owns the personal property - equipment, etc.)
Whitaker Properties LLC (owns the real property - buildings on the land)

In total, the Town of Plainfield and Hendricks County has lost out on (i.e., forgone) a total of $8,231,040.10 in tax revenue since 2009 due to the abatements the Town has given Niagara.

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance allows individuals to search information about property taxes at https://www.in.gov/dlgf/understanding-your-tax-bill/tax-bill-search/.

I have downloaded and analyzed the reports for Niagara Bottling and Whitaker Properties LLC.

Summary of Niagara Bottling taxes:

Summary of Whitaker Properties LLC:

During a 2022 Citizen's Academy session, an assistant Town manager talked about the positive economic impact of having all of these warehouses in Plainfield...the good that comes from having all of these jobs in our Town.

In the same breath, he touted how few people it took to run the Niagara Bottling lines. He said it only took 9 people -- it's actually 10 people -- to run their manufacturing lines because of the technology they have installed at their facility.

In 2018, Niagara employed 111 people, making an average of $19.41/hr. We gave Niagara tax abatements to add 8 more people, who were going to average $20.00/hr. Then we gave them another tax abatement to add 8 more people who were going to average $18.00/hr. Did anyone do the math? We give more tax breaks so they can pay people less money -- in an economy where it costs more to live. This is insane.

Our elected Town officials approved these abatements and considered the wages earned by the employees as "reasonable". An employee who makes $20.00/hr really only makes $16.00/hr after taxes; that calculates out to $641/week; $2,564/month; $30,768/year. If that employee is the sole income source for a family of 4 (e.g., 2 adults/2 children or 1 adult/3 children), they would qualify for SNAP benefits (i.e., food stamps). Is this a "REASONABLE" wage? I'd hope that the Town Council would want better for the workers that are being employed here. Maybe $20.00/hr was enough when they were working; now it's barely scraping by.

We should expect our leaders to expect more of those companies we court and bend over backwards for.

We should get more for what we give up.

4. Restrictions During a Water Emergency

Finally, my thoughts on water restrictions...

Why in the world would we put more restrictions on our Town's citizens than we put on a business?!

The President of the Town Council can declare a water emergency and restrict each household unit to 105 gallons of water a day...which is about 3 bath tubs of water...which ain't much.

The average person uses 101.5 gallons a day (reference). How many people do you have in your household?

Look at your water bill and see how much your household uses each month and calculate your average daily water usage. Remember to multiple the USAGE number by 1,000. It might surprise you.

Imagine cutting household's use down to 105 gallons a day; 3,150 gallons.

Then think about how Niagara Bottling would only have to reduce their use by 35%...that's cutting down their manufacturing from using 800,000+ gallons a day down to only about 520,000+ gallons a day.

The inequity the Town puts on it's citizens versus businesses is intolerable. A business, such as Niagara Bottling, should have to cease water use in a water emergency. So should car washes. In the recent past we have not had to declare a water emergency, but that doesn't mean that we won't have one...and when we do, it will be too late.

Running a local government is difficult. I understand this....but I am unsure whether or not we as CITIZENS are being put FIRST, before anything else...and I'm unsure whether or not our elected officials have thoroughly assessed the implications of the decisions they make.

We should expect more.