As California enters its fourth year of drought, more than 135,000 people have signed a petition to the California Water Resources Control Board to shut down Nestlé’s water bottling operations in the state.
Created by the California-based Courage Campaign, the petition says Nestlé extracts water from California specifically for its Arrowhead and Pure Life brands, and bottles its product from at least a dozen natural springs. It says one such bottling plant is located on a Native American reservation “in one of California’s most drought-stricken areas that is exempt from oversight by local water agencies.”
However, Nestlé claims its 2014 water use in California was about equal to the annual average watering needs of two golf courses in the state. In other words: shutting down a bottled water plant would not make much of a difference in the amount of water being used. The company says it is concerned about the drought and is doing its part to conserve water, such as being as "efficient as possible" in its water use.
For example, Nestlé water discharges per ton of product have dropped by 52 percent since 2005, according to the companies recent sustainability report.
California Gov. Jerry Brown recently issued the first-ever statewide mandatory water reductions in the Golden State. NASA scientists have warned California will need around 11 trillion gallons of water — about 1.5 times the maximum volume of the largest U.S. reservoir — to recover from its drought.
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Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Apr 13, 2015 6am EDT / 3am PDT / 11am BST / 12pm CEST