Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
PROGRESS IS being made Wednesday afternoon for a new water-bottling plant that is being constructed in Marenisco.
By TOM STANKARD
Marenisco - After a proposal to build a water-bottling plant in Presque Isle, Wis., was turned down, the plants developers are contructing a similar plant 10 miles away in Marenisco.
The Presque Isle town board rejected a request for the plant because of concerns about using water from the nearby Carlin Club well because it could cause a reduction in the aquifer level.
In response, the Marenisco Township board gave the developers 10 acres of land to build, and a connection to sewer and water lines for free.
Construction continued Wednesday on the plant located on Faire Avenue and Sawmill Lane. One of the developers, James Luedtke, said the facility will be 25,200-square feet, but is unsure of how much it will cost in the end. He said it's at least $700,000 "right now."
On the site, Luedtke said there will be a well. In addition, Luedtke said they will take "some water" from the Carlin Club well.
The operating company is Superior Springs, LLC. So far, the facility will bottle two labels, including the "Carlin Club Water" and the "Waters of Marenisco."
Luedtke said the plant would initially process roughly 24,000 gallons of water perday. He said they hope to increase that number.
To bottle the water, they will use a pneumatic blow-mold system.
"We use preforms that look like little test tubes. We heat them up to about 190 degrees and blows the preform into a 500-milliliter or 1-liter plastic bottle through air compression," Luedtke said.
Grocer Trygve Solberg is another developer of the plant. The developers plans to sell the bottled water in Solberg's stores and across the nation.
If the project stays on schedule, Luedtke said he hopes the facility will be open by mid-December. When it's up and running, the plant plans to employ eight to 12 local people. In a year, the plant wants to hire about 30 employees, he said.
"We want to try to support the local area as much as possible," Luedtke said.
"We need the jobs here," said Richard Bouvette, township supervisor.
