Nestlé's California Water Permit Expired 27 Years Ago

[jakeXT]

Last month, California newspaper The Desert Sun published an investigation revealing that Nestlé Water’s permit to transport water across the San Bernardino National Forest for bottling has been expired since 1988. On Friday, the California Forest Service announced it would make it “a priority” to reassess the permit, and that it might impose as-of-yet unspecified “interim conditions” on the bottling operation in light of the severe drought, The Desert Sun reports.

The fact that Nestlé has continued its massive water-bottling operation while the state struggles with crippling water shortages has become a sticking point for activists. A petition demanding Nestlé immediately stop bottling and profiting off California water has drawn 27,000 online signatures and counting, and last month activists reportedly blocked the entrances to Nestlé’s bottling plant in Sacramento.

Another investigation published last year by The Desert Sun found that after 2009, Nestlé Waters stopped submitting annual reports to local water districts about how much groundwater the company extracted for bottling. Since then, the local San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency has listed “a rounded estimate” in its own reports of 750 acre-feet, or 244 million gallons of water, extracted by Nestlé per year, according to the Sun. Reuters reports the company drew 50 million gallons from the Sacramento area alone last year.


No state agency is tracking exactly how much water is used by the 108 private water-bottling plants in California (of which Nestlé operates five), according to the Sun. Although Nestlé submits reports on its water usage to the Forest Service, the Service has not been closely tracking the volume of water leaving the San Bernardino National Forest, or the way the extraction impacts the environment, the Sun writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/nestles-california-water-permit-expired-27-years-ago-321940

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Since 1849 they have been a Fascist state . n/t

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Good. Cut them off entirely, and don't renew the permit in light of the drought.

Shut it down.

Heck, require them to bring as much water back to the state from elsewhere as they've taken for the 27 years they've been taking water without a permit.

[Buzz Clik]

3. Absolutely no one is twisting anyone's arms to drink bottled water.

In this country, drinking bottled water is a stupid waste of money. The cost in water, however, is next to nothing.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

4. If 'the cost in water is next to nothing'

Then Nestle certainly shouldn't mind buying that much water from states that have plenty and bringing it back to drought-ridden California to replace that they took (and are still taking) from a state that desperately needs it.

[Buzz Clik]

5. That's not a very logical statement.

[Scootaloo]

6. No, the major cost is in the tons of plastic the "health conscious" dump all over the landscape

[Buzz Clik]

9. Even if the plastic is properly collected and recycled...

... it's a huge waste. And the water you get from your tap is as clean as Nestle's bottled water, which is being consumed in enormous quantities by somebody, probably Californians.

[Dont call me Shirley]

7. Plus those plastic water bottles which are part of our modern landscape.

The corporations will do nothing to help people learn to pick up after themselves. Those tossed plastic water bottles are free advertising.

Let's rid the earth of these corporate parasites.

[TNNurse]

8. Guess a little research is in order

in California....or maybe a lot of research.....add the Forest Service in on that?

The Forest Service needs a huge level of oversight. What else would we find?

[Nihil]

10. "What else would we find?"

We'd find how many people have been getting a "nice little earner" from allowing these
sorts of things to a) arise and b) continue.

Cue a flurry of "sad accidents", "child pornography allegations", "indiscrete affairs coming to light"
and "resigning to spend more time with one's family".