To: Governor Gavin Newsom
Regulate Bottled Water in California!
Send a message to Governor Jerry Brown to regulate Bottled Water in California during the worst drought this state has ever seen.[2]
Why is this important?
It is unbelievable that these companies are almost completely unregulated. While Californians are forced to face mandatory water restrictions, these plants don’t abide by any. In many cases, companies that bottle water, such as Nestle and Coca-Cola, buy their product straight from municipal supplies (essentially from the tap) - often at the same rate charged to residential or commercial customers (99 cents per 748 gallons from Sacramento municipal water district).[3] This type of business practice gives bottled water companies a financial incentive to draw as much water as they please, then in turn sell it back to customers for huge profits. A lack of statewide groundwater regulations means that anyone who builds a well can basically pump as much water as they like.[4]
Water is a precious resource. Californians realize this now more than ever. According to NASA, California could potentially have less than a year left of water and then it’s gone. These companies don’t seem to understand this. They bottle up the limited amount of water we have and sell it back to us for a profit; a process that requires between 1.32 and 1.63 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water.[5] [6]These companies take water from communities that rely on their wells. When their wells go dry as a result, they are forced to buy bottled water to survive.
Nestle argues that they won't halt bottling production because “people need to drink water,” and because doing so “won't fix the drought.”[7] [8] Yes, people need water to survive. But do they need companies to pump water from their own state? No. These companies could move to other states, like Starbucks - who recently decided to move production of its Ethos bottled water to Pennsylvania.[9] So why don’t they? Because other states have more regulations. California is just a money-making scheme. For example, Crystal Geyser recently purchase a plant in Siskiyou County.[10] They could have moved to a new state that is not in a drought, but they chose to stay in California. Most likely due to the lack of regulation.
One further example is the fact that Nestle has been piping spring water from the San Bernardino National Forest with a permit that expired 27 years ago, which is still pending renewal.[11] This process of piping spring water from a national forest is being carried out with little to no oversight from the US Forest service, which has resulted in rising concerns regarding potential impacts on the ecosystem and wildlife population.[12]
Another entity (besides Nestle) who have come to the defense of bottled water companies is the IBWA (International Bottled Water Association). Their arguments include the fact that the water used by bottled water companies only amounts to 0.002% of the water used in California; a figure which pales in comparison to agriculture, which consumes 80%, and residential use, which consumes 13%.[13] However, we counter that these types of arguments amount to faulty logic. If all consumers of water used this line of reasoning and refused to do their fair share of conservation efforts, then California's drought woes will never be solved. Furthermore, the arguments used by Nestle and IBWA do not take into account the potential environmental and ecological impacts that their activity poses.
Advocacy groups such as Courage Campaign have done a great job in raising awareness concerning the business and sourcing practices used by Walmart and Nestle through collecting petition signatures, organizing protests and pushing for legal action. For the purposes of our efforts, we wish to expand our focus to six major bottling companies, which continue to tap into California’s scarce resources in drought stricken regions. These bottlers/distributors are Arrowhead (Nestle), Crystal Geyser, Great Value (Walmart), Dasani (Coca-Cola), Aquafina (Pepsi), and Niagara. Join with us as we demand that California lawmakers impose stricter regulations on bottled water companies. Companies such as Coca-Cola should not be allowed to draw as they please from municipal supplies while the rest of California is forced to comply with mandatory restrictions, and companies such as Nestle and Crystal Geyser should not be allowed to draw spring water until the full impact their practices on the environment and wildlife are properly assessed.
[1] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php
[2] http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/15/californians-pressure-retail-giants-to-stop-bottling-water-during-drought.html
[3] http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/bottled-water-california-drought
[4] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php
[5] http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/15/californians-pressure-retail-giants-to-stop-bottling-water-during-drought.html
[6] http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/bottled-water-california-drought
[7] http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/26/news/companies/california-bottled-water-drought/
[8] http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/ban-bottled-water-industry-scrutinized-parched-california-n357256
[9] http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article21049293.html
[10] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php
[11] http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/ban-bottled-water-industry-scrutinized-parched-california-n357256
[12] http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/03/05/bottling-water-california-drought/24389417/
[13] http://www.bottledwater.org/
Water is a precious resource. Californians realize this now more than ever. According to NASA, California could potentially have less than a year left of water and then it’s gone. These companies don’t seem to understand this. They bottle up the limited amount of water we have and sell it back to us for a profit; a process that requires between 1.32 and 1.63 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water.[5] [6]These companies take water from communities that rely on their wells. When their wells go dry as a result, they are forced to buy bottled water to survive.
Nestle argues that they won't halt bottling production because “people need to drink water,” and because doing so “won't fix the drought.”[7] [8] Yes, people need water to survive. But do they need companies to pump water from their own state? No. These companies could move to other states, like Starbucks - who recently decided to move production of its Ethos bottled water to Pennsylvania.[9] So why don’t they? Because other states have more regulations. California is just a money-making scheme. For example, Crystal Geyser recently purchase a plant in Siskiyou County.[10] They could have moved to a new state that is not in a drought, but they chose to stay in California. Most likely due to the lack of regulation.
One further example is the fact that Nestle has been piping spring water from the San Bernardino National Forest with a permit that expired 27 years ago, which is still pending renewal.[11] This process of piping spring water from a national forest is being carried out with little to no oversight from the US Forest service, which has resulted in rising concerns regarding potential impacts on the ecosystem and wildlife population.[12]
Another entity (besides Nestle) who have come to the defense of bottled water companies is the IBWA (International Bottled Water Association). Their arguments include the fact that the water used by bottled water companies only amounts to 0.002% of the water used in California; a figure which pales in comparison to agriculture, which consumes 80%, and residential use, which consumes 13%.[13] However, we counter that these types of arguments amount to faulty logic. If all consumers of water used this line of reasoning and refused to do their fair share of conservation efforts, then California's drought woes will never be solved. Furthermore, the arguments used by Nestle and IBWA do not take into account the potential environmental and ecological impacts that their activity poses.
Advocacy groups such as Courage Campaign have done a great job in raising awareness concerning the business and sourcing practices used by Walmart and Nestle through collecting petition signatures, organizing protests and pushing for legal action. For the purposes of our efforts, we wish to expand our focus to six major bottling companies, which continue to tap into California’s scarce resources in drought stricken regions. These bottlers/distributors are Arrowhead (Nestle), Crystal Geyser, Great Value (Walmart), Dasani (Coca-Cola), Aquafina (Pepsi), and Niagara. Join with us as we demand that California lawmakers impose stricter regulations on bottled water companies. Companies such as Coca-Cola should not be allowed to draw as they please from municipal supplies while the rest of California is forced to comply with mandatory restrictions, and companies such as Nestle and Crystal Geyser should not be allowed to draw spring water until the full impact their practices on the environment and wildlife are properly assessed.
[1] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php
[2] http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/15/californians-pressure-retail-giants-to-stop-bottling-water-during-drought.html
[3] http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/bottled-water-california-drought
[4] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php
[5] http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/15/californians-pressure-retail-giants-to-stop-bottling-water-during-drought.html
[6] http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/bottled-water-california-drought
[7] http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/26/news/companies/california-bottled-water-drought/
[8] http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/ban-bottled-water-industry-scrutinized-parched-california-n357256
[9] http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article21049293.html
[10] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php
[11] http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/ban-bottled-water-industry-scrutinized-parched-california-n357256
[12] http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/03/05/bottling-water-california-drought/24389417/
[13] http://www.bottledwater.org/