At last month's board of supervisors meeting the board members passed a motion requesting that the solicitor send a letter to Nestle Waters NA requesting that the test and monitoring wells on the Gower property be sealed.

A total of 15 test and monitoring wells were drilled during the time that Nestle was leasing the Gower Property while attempting to obtain a special exception from the Eldred Township zoning hearing board to extract 200,000 gallons of spring water daily from the site. In June Nestle withdrew its application and has since left the township.Supervisor Gary Hoffman made the motion during July's meeting to make sure that the wells were abandoned in accordance with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations.On Wednesday evening, township solicitor Michael Gaul indicated that a letter had been received in response from Nestle's attorney R. Timothy Weston. In his letter, Weston pointed out thataccording to the agreement between Nestle Waters and Gower, Gower has the right to keep any facilities installed by Nestle upon termination of the agreement.The letter stated that Gower had opted to keep well MW-4, which is located near the existing garage, and MW-8, which is located elsewhere on the property. Well MW-4 would be used as a source for the garage and MW-8 would be for a future use.The rest of the test and monitoring wells will be closed in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 of the Water Well Drillers License Act. Nestle has employed Moyer Well Drilling to close the wells. The work is scheduled to begin the second week of August.Unfortunately, the section of the letterabout future use near that locationstarted a debate among those present. Initially Hoffman made a motion requesting that Gaul to follow up with Gower to determine what the "future use" was.After additional comment from the residents, the majority of whom want the property returned to its pre-Nestle state, the motion was changed to request Gaul send a letter to both Gower and Nestle Waters requesting all 15 wells be sealed.