SAINT JOHN — Moosehead Breweries alleges the City of Saint John left the company high and dry after a controversial water switchover in the fall of 2017. The oldest independent brewery in the country has now launched legal action against the city. In a court document, Moosehead accuses the city of negligence and it wants it to pay more than $1.6 million. That's the money the company says it spent on a new water filtration system and treatment programs that it says have turned out to be completely unnecessary. In September of 2017, the water source for the area in west Saint John was switched from lake water to water from the South Bay wellfield. The company says it asked city officials numerous times to be provided with lake water from east Saint John instead, but was turned down. In July of 2019, there was a notice from Saint John Water stated that "recent measurements within the wells have revealed that the water level is lower than predicted by the engineering consulting firm." Because of that, the city said that some areas of the west side would be transitioned to water from the new Loch Lomond drinking water treatment facility -- Moosehead included. In a news release, chief financial officer Patrick Oland says "we were forced to spend money earmarked for other important programs while our pleas to the city went unheeded. It is now clear that the money the city forced us to spend is wasted because the new well system is a failure." For the city's part, spokesperson Lisa Caissie tells CTV News "the city is aware of the claim and has shared it with its insurers. The city expects the insurers to defend the claim and appoint legal counsel shortly." This is not the first time a lawsuit has been launched against the city related to west side water A group of homeowners on the west side also launched a lawsuit, although Moosehead has chosen not to get involved in that case.
