Moosehead Breweries Files Lawsuit Over Saint John’s Water Supply Switch

Moosehead Breweries has filed a lawsuit against the city of Saint John, claiming it incurred $1.6 million in expenses to convert the brewery’s water source after the city switched its drinking water supply from Spruce Lake to a collection of groundwater wells at South Bay.

According to the lawsuit, Moosehead was concerned about the chemical composition of the well water and wanted to keep lake water as the brewery’s water source. It was concerned that the well water was not compatible with its brewing system.

The brewery reportedly sought to be linked to surface water from the Loch Lomond lakes treatment system, but the request was denied. Moosehead’s request that the switch to well water be delayed for the brewery was also rejected.

Moosehead claims it had to spend $1.2 million on a filtration system and $364,000 on “processing aids” to change its brewing formulas to counter the minerals and compounds in the well water.

Last year, the city of Saint John reportedly announced that the new groundwater wells were being drawn down too rapidly and ran the risk of being contaminated by seawater. Moosehead, along with other consumers of water on the west-side of the city, will be switched to Loch Lomond surface water over the next few weeks, according to CBC.ca.

According to the lawsuit the brewery argues that it wasted $1.6 million to adjust its beer production system to the well water system, which turned out to be a failure. The lawsuit seeks compensation for the amount it incurred to convert its brewery to use the well water system instead of the lake water supply.

“The city’s complete reversal of its Water Supply Transition initiative and its announcement that Moosehead’s water supply would again be derived from a lake source rendered Moosehead’s substantial investment in equipment and resources required to adapt its process from a lake water source to a well water source completely unnecessary and entirely worthless,” Moosehead states in the lawsuit.

The city of Saint John is also taking legal action of its own over the city’s drinking water snafu. The city claims it received bad advice from BGC Engineering, which was hired in 2013 to develop a groundwater system for the west side of the city. BGC determined that the wells could provide enough water for the west side customers. However, when the water system was turned on, well levels fell below sea level.

Saint John is seeking compensation for the losses it has incurred to transfer a significant number of west side water customers to the east side water system. Meanwhile, Moosehead Breweries has filed a lawsuit against the city of Saint John seeking compensation for the amount it incurred to convert its brewery to use the well water system. 

Were you affected by the water supply changes in the City of Saint John? Tell us your story in the comment section below! 

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