Nestlé is bottling water straight from the heart of California’s drought
Idea for image (nestle factory)
The company is exporting a seriously limited resource with no oversight
As residents of California are urged to conserve water and the state
considers placing a mandatory restriction on outdoor water usage, Nestlé is trucking away undisclosed amounts of the precious resource in the form of bottled water.
The Desert Sun has an in-depth report of controversy brewing around the company’s bottling plant, which draws water from a
drought-stricken area for
its Arrowhead and Pure Life brand water. Because the plant is located
on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ reservation, it’s exempt from
oversight by local water agencies and is able to keep confidential
information — such as the amount of groundwater it’s pumping and water
levels in its wells — that other plants would be required to disclose.
As a result, critics contend, it’s impossible to know just how much of
the limited resource the plant is extracting to send elsewhere.
Here’s more from the Desert Sun:
“They’re
entitled to use the groundwater basin, too. Everyone is. But it’s just a
shame that this water is not being used locally. It’s being exported,”
said David Luker, general manager of the Desert Water Agency. He said
DWA’s position has been that the Morongo tribe should have to report its
water use just like other entities.
“I don’t believe there’s any
way to force them to fork over groundwater pumping information unless
there’s discovery in a lawsuit,” Luker said. But he said the level of
concern about the bottling plant in the area doesn’t seem to have grown
to a degree that leads to such action.
Other concerns are raised
by people who live in a neighborhood of mobile homes near the bottling
factory. Some say they wish the plant would provide more jobs because
many are unemployed. Others say despite living next to the Arrowhead
plant, their local water service is poor, with sputtering faucets and
frequent breaks in water lines.
“The
reason this particular plant is of special concern is precisely because
water is so scarce in the basin,” Peter Gleick, who
wrote the book on
bottled water, told the Desert Sun. “If you had the same bottling plant
in a water-rich area, then the amount of water bottled and diverted
would be a small fraction of the total water available. But this is a
desert ecosystem. Surface water in the desert is exceedingly rare and
has a much higher environmental value than the same amount of water
somewhere else.”
Nestlé refused to let the Desert Sun tour the
Morongo facilities or release any data about water levels in its wells,
but in an emailed statement stood by its operations. “We proudly conduct
our business in an environmentally responsible manner that focuses on
water and energy conservation,” the company said. “Our sustainable
operations are specifically designed and managed to prevent adverse
impacts to local area groundwater resources, particularly in light of
California’s drought conditions over the past three years.” What that
ignores, however, is the basic fact that bottled water is anathema to
the concept of environmental responsibility: we’re talking about a
process that
uses multiple times the amount of water bottled
just to produce its packaging. Drought aside, the controversy
highlights some of the basic contradictions of the $12.2 billion
industry — and if there’s anything that’s going to open our eyes to its
wastefulness, this should be it.
Written by;
Lindsay Abrams is a staff writer at Salon, reporting on
all things sustainable. Follow her on Twitter @readingirl, email
labrams@salon.com.
And From the Desert Sun
Little oversight as Nestle taps Morongo reservation water
Ian James, The Desert Sun
11:48 a.m. PDT July 14, 2014
CABAZON –
Among the windmills and creosote bushes of San Gorgonio Pass, a
nondescript beige building stands flanked by water tanks. A sign at the
entrance displays the logo of Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water, with
water flowing from a snowy mountain. Semi-trucks rumble in and out
through the gates, carrying load after load of bottled water.
The
plant, located on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians' reservation, has
been drawing water from wells alongside a spring in Millard Canyon for
more than a decade. But as California's drought deepens, some people in
the area question how much water the plant is bottling and whether it's
right to sell water for profit in a desert region where springs are rare
and underground aquifers have been declining.
MORE: Beyond Drought coverage from The Desert Sun
"Why
is it possible to take water from a drought area, bottle it and sell
it?" asked Linda Ivey, a Palm Desert real estate appraiser who said she
wonders about the plant's use of water every time she drives past it on
Interstate 10.
"It's hard to know how much is being taken," Ivey said. "We've got to protect what little water supply we have."
Over
the years, the Morongo tribe has clashed with one local water district
over the bottling operation, and has tried to fend off a long-running
attempt by state officials to revoke a license for a portion of the
water rights. Those disputes, however, don't seem to have put a dent in
an operation that brings the Morongo undisclosed amounts of income
through an agreement with the largest bottled water company in the
United States.
MORE: Environment news from The Desert Sun
The
plant is operated by Nestle Waters North America Inc., which leases the
property from the tribe and uses it to package Arrowhead spring water
as well as purified water sold under the brand Nestle Pure Life.
The
Desert Sun has repeatedly asked the company for a tour of the bottling
plant since last year, but those requests have not been granted. The
company and the Morongo tribe also did not respond to requests for
information about the amounts of water bottled each year.
Until
2009, Nestle Waters submitted annual reports to a group of local water
districts showing how much groundwater was being extracted from the
spring in Millard Canyon. Reports compiled by the San Gorgonio Pass
Water Agency show that the amounts drawn from two wells in the canyon
varied from a high of 1,366 acre-feet in 2002 to a low of 595 acre-feet
in 2005. In 2009, Nestle Waters reported 757 acre-feet pumped from the
wells during the previous year.
NB; Millard Canyon Spring (water source).
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