(ANTIMEDIA) Los Angeles, CA — Nestle has found itself more and more frequently in the glare of the California drought-shame spotlight
than it would arguably care to be — though not frequently enough,
apparently, for the megacorporation to have spontaneously sprouted a conscience.
Drought-shaming worked sufficiently enough for Starbucks to stop bottling water
in the now-arid state entirely, uprooting its operations all the way to
Pennsylvania. But Nestle simply shrugged off public outrage and then upped the ante by increasing its draw from natural springs — most notoriously in the San Bernardino National Forest — with an absurdly expired permit.
Because profit, of course. Or, perhaps more befittingly, theft. But you get the idea.
Nestle has somehow managed
the most sweetheart of deals for its Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring
Water, which is ostensibly sourced from Arrowhead Springs — and which
also happens to be located on public land in a national forest.
In 2013, the company drew 27 million gallons of water from 12 springs in Strawberry Canyon for the brand — apparently by employing rather impressive legerdemain — considering the permit to do so expired in 1988.
But, as Nestle will tell you, 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 — all $524 of it.
And that isn’t the only water it collects. Another 51 million gallons of groundwater were drawn from the area by Nestle that same year.
