Guelph council chambers were packed Monday night as councillors debated whether to officially voice opposition to the rules around Nestle’s water-taking in nearby communities.

Dozens of people arrived at City Hall well before the meeting began, armed with signs bearing messages like ‘Water is a human right’ and ‘Stop Nestle’ in a protest against the renewal of Nestle’s current water-taking permit.

When they left, it wasn’t with the answer they were hoping for – but it wasn’t with a firm denial, either.

Mayor Cam Guthrie had suggested that city staff do up a report on the issue before councillors took any action.

Coun. James Gordon – who brought the issue to council – argued that there wasn’t enough time to wait for a report.

“We need to deal with this now, not wait until the province opens up the commentary period,” he told CTV Kitchener.

In the end, councillors voted to put off any decision until Nov. 7.

Nestle’s permit to take up to 3.6 million litres of water per day from a site near Aberfoyle, south of Guelph, expired in July.

The company continues to take water under the terms of that permit while the province reviews its application for a renewal. It’s not clear how much water the water bottling giant actually draws.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has called some of the existing conditions on water permits outdated, including a fee of $3.71 for every million litres of water taken – no matter what purpose the taker has for it.

“If you get a permit from the province, it doesn’t really matter if you’re a municipality or an aggregate company or a farmer or a water bottler – it’s all treated the same way,” Robert Case, a member of the Wellington Water Watchers advocacy group, said outside the meeting.

According to Gordon, Guelph is the largest city in Canada that relies on groundwater for its water supply. Because of that, he’s concerned that nobody knows for sure whether the city and Nestle are drawing from the same supply.

Gordon says he wants to see changes to how the province issues permits when it comes to water bottlers, which would take into account the effects of climate change and planned growth in Guelph.

“We would like to suggest to the province that this community of Guelph does not approve of the way this permit was issued the last time, and they need to look at it again,” he said.

Case agrees, noting “very positive things” said by Wynne and others in the provincial government that suggest change could be in the cards.

“They have water bottling on the radar,” he said. “I think now is the time for Ontarians to speak up and let the premier know what we want.”

Last week, it was announced that Nestle had purchased a well belonging to the Middlebrook Water Company near Elora, outbidding the Township of Centre Wellington in the process.

With reporting by Marc Venema and files from The Canadian Press