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Claire Bernish While “drought-shaming” has stopped corporations from drawing water from California, Nestle continues to draw millions of gallons of water from the arid state with an expired permit.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n (<\/strong>ANTIMEDIA<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong>\u00a0Los Angeles, CA \u2014<\/em>Nestle has found itself more and more frequently in the glare of the\u00a0California drought-shame spotlight<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0than it would arguably care to be \u2014 though not frequently enough, apparently, for the megacorporation to have spontaneously sprouted a\u00a0conscience<\/em>.<\/p>\n Drought-shaming worked sufficiently enough for Starbucks to\u00a0stop bottling water<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in the now-arid state entirely, uprooting its operations all the way to Pennsylvania. But Nestle simply shrugged off public outrage and then\u00a0upped the ante<\/em>\u00a0by increasing its draw from natural springs \u2014 most notoriously in the\u00a0San Bernardino National Forest \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0with an\u00a0absurdly\u00a0<\/em>expired\u00a0permit<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Because\u00a0profit,\u00a0of course. Or, perhaps more befittingly,\u00a0theft.\u00a0But you get the idea.<\/p>\n Nestle has somehow\u00a0managed<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0the most sweetheart of deals for its Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water, which is ostensibly sourced from Arrowhead Springs \u2014 and which also\u00a0happens to be located on public land in a national forest.<\/p>\n In 2013, the company drew\u00a027 million gallons of water\u00a0from 12 springs in Strawberry Canyon for the brand \u2014 apparently by employing rather impressive legerdemain \u2014\u00a0considering the permit to do so\u00a0expired in 1988<\/em>.<\/p>\n But, as Nestle will tell you<\/a><\/strong>, that really isn’t cause for concern since it swears it is a good steward of the land and, after all, that expired permit’s annual fee has been diligently and faithfully paid in full \u2014\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>$524<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of it<\/em>.<\/p>\n And that isn’t the only water it collects. Another\u00a051 million gallons of\u00a0groundwater<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0were drawn from the area by Nestle that same year.<\/p>\n There is another site the company drains for profit while California’s historic drought rages on: Deer Canyon. Last year, Nestle drew\u00a076 million gallons<\/em>\u00a0from the springs in that location, which is a sizable increase over 2013’s 56 million-gallon draw \u2014 and under circumstances just as questionable as water collection at Arrowhead.<\/p>\n This extensive collection of water<\/a><\/strong> is undoubtedly having detrimental effects on the ecosystem and its numerous endangered and threatened species, though impact studies aren’t available because they were mysteriously stopped before ever getting underway.<\/p>\n In fact, the review process necessary to renew Nestle’s antiquated permit met a similarly enigmatic termination: once planning stages made apparent the hefty price tag and complicated steps said review would entail,\u00a0the review was\u00a0<\/em>simply dropped<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0Completely. Without any new stipulations or stricter regulations added to the expired permit that Nestle was ostensibly following anyway \u2014 though, obviously, that remains an open question.<\/p>\n In 2014,\u00a0Nestle used roughly 705 million gallons of water in its operations in California, according to natural resource manager Larry Lawrence. That’s\u00a02,164 acre-feet of water\u00a0\u2014 enough to\u00a0“irrigate 700 acres of farmland”<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0“fill 1,068 Olympic-sized swimming pools,”<\/em>\u00a0as Ian James\u00a0pointed out<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0inThe Desert Sun<\/em>.<\/p>\n Though there is no way to verify exactly how much Nestle must spend to produce a single bottle of Arrowhead spring water, the astronomical profit is undeniable fact:\u00a0the most popular size of a bottle of Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water (1 liter) retails for 89\u00a2<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0putting the potential profit for Nestle<\/a> in the tens of billions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Activists have called for a\u00a0boycott<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0Nestle Waters<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and all\u00a0Nestle products<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0until they are held accountable for their actions in California.<\/p>\n There is much more to be revealed in future articles as the investigation into Nestle’s reckless profit-seeking during California’s unprecedented drought continues.<\/p>\n Related research:<\/strong> in order to the “solve” the California drought problem fracking companies are planning on selling their wastewater for agricultural purposes. Recent research shows, however, that wastewater not only contains thousands of petrochemicals but significant amounts of long-lived and highly carcinogenic radioactivity. Read the article here:\u00a0Fracking Creates Massive Radioactive Waste Problem<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOriginally published on\u00a0TheAntiMedia.org<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cdn.greenmedinfo.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ckeditor\/Sayer%20Ji\/images\/water22.gif\")
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