RIVERSIDE. A federal judge on Wednesday ruled in favor of the U.S. Forest Service, declaring valid Nestlé’s permit for water-bottling operations in the San Bernardino Mountains, on a motion filed by three environmental groups that sought to shut down the company’s efforts until its effects on the environment could be evaluated.
Miles from the nearest paved road in the San Bernardino National Forest, two sounds fill a rocky canyon: a babbling stream and the hissing of water flowing through a stainless steel pipe. From wells that tap into springs high on the mountainside, water gushes down through the pipe to a roadside tank. From there, it is transferred to tanker trucks, hauled to a bottling plant and sold as Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water.
Pump Station
Nestlé Waters
Arrowhead Spring Waters
~ 57,000,000 gl/year
california
san bernardino
ABOUT
deadwater is a bachelor project by Caroline Breidenbach.
It’s an interactive multimedia storytelling about a critical examination of „bottled water“.
Drinking water from plastic bottles is an everyday and self-evident thing for most people. It is consumed without being questioned.
The consumption of bottled water increased explosively in the past 30 years and it is still growing. What seems harmless is actually a business which often comes along with lobbying and corruption as well as neglecting rights for humans and the environment. It’s time to question this trend – a trend arised out of abuse and convenience.
This is a demo version. The conception is that there are lot’s of stories spread over the map.
This version is only published time limited as part of the bachelor thesis at Hochschule Hannover and not for commercial purposes.
CREDITS
Research, concept, design and production by Caroline Breidenbach
Contact info@caroline-breidenbach.de
© Caroline Breidenbach. All rights reserved. January 2017
DATA SOURCES
Intro http://environment.about.com
Map info about bottled water locales: www.bottledwater.org; drought map: www.huffingtonpost.com; infographic: www.fiberwater.com; Beverage Marketing Corporation
Story San Bernardino text: The Desert Sun, The Sun; video:story of stuff project; photo: Jay Calderon; infographic: Nestle Waters North America, www.bottled-water.blogspot.de
Story Chaffee County text: Colorado Independent, Denver Post, LA Times
video & infographic: documentation „Wem gehört das Wasser“
Story Fryeburg text: Portland Press Herald, US Uncut, The Honoluluadvertiser, Stop Nestlé Waters, BDN Maine; video: documentation „bottled life“; photo: John Patriquin, Press Herald; infographic: Beverage Marketing Corporation
san bernardino
ABOUT
deadwater is a bachelor project by Caroline Breidenbach.
It’s an interactive multimedia storytelling about a critical examination of „bottled water“.
Drinking water from plastic bottles is an everyday and self-evident thing for most people. It is consumed without being questioned.
The consumption of bottled water increased explosively in the past 30 years and it is still growing. What seems harmless is actually a business which often comes along with lobbying and corruption as well as neglecting rights for humans and the environment. It’s time to question this trend – a trend arised out of abuse and convenience.
This is a demo version. The conception is that there are lot’s of stories spread over the map.
This version is only published time limited as part of the bachelor thesis at Hochschule Hannover and not for commercial purposes.
CREDITS
Research, concept, design and production by Caroline Breidenbach
Contact info@caroline-breidenbach.de
© Caroline Breidenbach. All rights reserved. January 2017
DATA SOURCES
Intro http://environment.about.com
Map info about bottled water locales: www.bottledwater.org; drought map: www.huffingtonpost.com; infographic: www.fiberwater.com; Beverage Marketing Corporation
Story San Bernardino text: The Desert Sun, The Sun; video:story of stuff project; photo: Jay Calderon; infographic: Nestle Waters North America, www.bottled-water.blogspot.de
Story Chaffee County text: Colorado Independent, Denver Post, LA Times
video & infographic: documentation „Wem gehört das Wasser“
Story Fryeburg text: Portland Press Herald, US Uncut, The Honoluluadvertiser, Stop Nestlé Waters, BDN Maine; video: documentation „bottled life“; photo: John Patriquin, Press Herald; infographic: Beverage Marketing Corporation
Nestlé Waters North America holds a longstanding right to use this water from the national forest near San Bernardino. But the U.S. Forest Service hasn‘t been keeping an eye on whether the taking of water is harming Strawberry Creek and the wildlife that depends on it. In fact, Nestlé‘s permit to transport water across the national forest expired in 1988. It hasn‘t been reviewed since, and the Forest Service hasn‘t examined the ecological effects of drawing tens of millions of gallons each year from the springs.
Even with California deep in drought, the federal agency hasn‘t assessed the impacts of the bottled water business on springs and streams in two watersheds that sustain sensitive habitats in the national forest. The lack of oversight is symptomatic of a Forest Service limited by tight budgets and focused on other issues, and of a regulatory system in California that allows the bottled water industry to operate with little independent tracking of the potential toll on the environment.
No one knows about the amounts of water extractions by bottled water plants in California
In an investigation of the industry‘s water footprint in the San Bernardino National Forest and other parts of California, The Desert Sun found that: No state agency is tracking exactly how much water is used by all of the bottled water plants in California, or monitoring the effects on water supplies and ecosystems statewide. The California Department of Public Health regulates 108 bottled water plants in the state, collecting information on water quality and the sources tapped. But the agency says it does not require companies to report how much water they use. That information, when collected piecemeal by state or local agencies, often isn‘t easily accessible to the public. In some cases, the amounts of water used are considered confidential and not publicly released.
Even as Nestlé Waters has been submitting required reports on its water use, the Forest Service has not been closely tracking the amounts of water leaving the San Bernardino National Forest and has not assessed the impacts on the environment. While the Forest Service has allowed Nestlé to keep using an expired permit for nearly three decades, the agency has cracked down on other water users in the national forest. Several years ago, for instance, dozens of cabin owners were required to stop drawing water from a creek when their permits came up for renewal. Nestlé has faced no such restrictions. Only this year, after a group of critics raised concerns in letters and after The Desert Sun inquired about the expired permit, did Forest Service officials announce plans to take up the issue and carry out an environmental analysis.
An urgent need to protect the sources
In the San Bernardino National Forest, Nestlé insists its bottling of spring water isn't causing any harm. Water from Arrowhead Springs has been tapped and sold for more than a century. The company says it is complying with all the requirements of its expired permit in the national forest and has been informed by the Forest Service that it can keep operating lawfully until a new permit is eventually issued. The company
“When you take water from the springs that are the source of those waters, you dry up these canyons. And they‘re the most important habitats that we have.“
– Steve Loe, a biologist who retired from the Forest Service in 2007
Nestlé water pipe through San Bernardino National Forest
Residents about Nestlés water extractions in the National Forest
also says that at all of the springs where it draws water, it monitors the environment and manages its water use to ensure "long-term sustainability".
Two former Forest Service employees interviewed by The Desert Sun say they think it‘s wrong that the agency for decades hasn‘t studied the impacts on the national forest. During the drought, they say, there is now an urgent need to protect the water sources on public lands and reexamine Nestlé‘s bottling operation.
“They‘re taking way too much water. That water‘s hugely important.“ said Steve Loe, a biologist who retired from the Forest Service in 2007. Loe first raised his concerns in an email in September to a list of federal and state officials and others, including a Nestlé Waters manager. He pointed out that Nestlé‘s permit “has long expired and needs to be reissued“ requiring an analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). He suggested a meeting.
Soon afterward, Loe met with the Nestlé manager and laid out his concerns. Five months later – after he and others sent additional critical letters to the government and after The Desert Sun posed questions about the expired permit – Forest Service officials met with Loe and told him they have started to evaluate the reissuance of the expired permit.
While pleased that the agency acknowledged the issue, Loe still ha[d] concerns. He want[ed]
to see an environmental study prepared by an independent third party. He also wants a review of Nestlé‘s use of water from Deer Canyon Springs in the national forest. He said it‘s time for immediate measures to put more water into the streams while those environmental reviews, which can take years, are carried out.
“Because of the drought emergency, they need to go beyond just doing the NEPA, [...] I would like to see the Forest Service and Nestlé agree not to take water until they know if it‘s OK to take water. This hasn‘t been studied in a long time.“
– Steve Loe
“It‘s just improper management and poor funding.“
"That's Arrowhead's pipe coming down right there." said Gary Earney, a retired Forest Service employee, standing on the bank of the creek and leaning on a walking stick. Earney used to administer permits for the Forest Service, and he said the agency has never done an assessment of how the taking of water affects the creek. Back when the water pipes were installed in the early 20th
“It‘s just so unfair. We made the little people do the right thing, and we‘re not making the big people do the right thing.“
– Steve Loe
Regional review of the water permits – but not for the big ones
While Nestlé's expired permit hasn't been scrutinized in nearly three decades, some other water users have been required to cut back. In the mid-2000s, as part of a regional review, the Forest Service went through the permits of hundreds of cabins on land in the national forest and reexamined their use of water from creeks. In Barton Flats, for instance, dozens of cabin owners were told they could no longer draw water from Barton Creek;
Gary Earney
dilapidated water control infrastructure at the base of
Deer Canyon
Rachel Doughty
bottles of
water at Nestlé Waters bottling plant
Nestlé Waters bottling plant in Cabazon
Arrowhead bottling plant in Cabazon
A big backlog, but other priorities
Employees of the San Bernardino National Forest say they oversee about 1,500 permits for various uses of national forest lands, ranging from power lines to cabins. About 360 of those permits are expired, and officials say they are gradually working on the backlog. “The Nestlé permit is just one of those 360. It‘s not like we‘ve purposely held that one out,“ said Al Colby, a public services staff officer who oversees permits.
Jason Collier, a lands and recreation specialist who handles special use permits, said he didn‘t know how much water Nestlé has been using. He pointed out that when the permit was issued in the 1970s, reporting the volumes of water wasn‘t one of the conditions. Collier recalled that reissuing Nestlé‘s expired permit was “part of the discussion“ at one point – until the additional railroad track in Cajon Pass came up. “Then the discussion became, ‚There‘s a backlog in Long Beach (port) and we can‘t get our shipping containers moved. You work on the railroad.‘“ Collier said. “That‘s our reality, right or wrong.“
“I have 660,000 acres of the national forest to work on, and I‘m just one guy. When it becomes a priority, I‘ll deal with it.“
– Robert Taylor, forest hydrologist
Taylor also said: “We have a lot to do. There are a lot of expired permits. We get direction from the regional office and the Washington office on how to handle our levels of permits,“. Reissuing the permit likely will require studies to answer questions about how the water would flow if it weren‘t being extracted from the springs, said Robert Taylor, the forest hydrologist. Some of those questions, he said, include where a drop of water would otherwise go, whether it would in fact reach the creek, and how long its journey down the watershed would take.
Nestlé lawsuit judge ruling
The issue has sparked an emotional debate during California’s epic drought, with opponents arguing that taking water harms the environment and wildlife along Strawberry Creek, and that the impacts on the ecosystem need to be scientifically assessed. Although Tuesday’s [edit: Sept. 21, 2016] ruling has dealt a major blow to legal efforts to stop Nestlé, O’Heaney was quick to note that the lawsuit was just one way in
“Plantiffs do not identify, and the court cannot find, any authority holding that an agency’s failure to act within a reasonable time”
– Jesus G. Bernal, federal judge
Among other complaints, the plaintiffs unsuccessfully argued was that the special use permit for four miles of pipeline and other structures used to tap Strawberry Canyon’s spring water had expired Aug. 2, 1988, and was never properly renewed.
Bernal said the Forest Service did receive a “timely and sufficient application for renewal” in May 1987. He also rejected the plaintiffs’ assertion that the USFS failure to act on the May 1987 letter for 30 years renders the special use permit — which Nestlé pays $524 each year to maintain — invalid. “Plantiffs do not identify, and the court cannot find, any authority holding that an agency’s failure to act within a reasonable time” can invalidate a special use permit, Bernal wrote in his 12-page decision filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Central Division of California. “The court’s decision is disappointing, but the real tragedy lies in the fact that Strawberry Creek is drying up, dooming the plants, fish and animals that have relied on it for tens of thousands of years,” said Ileene Anderson, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.
A court confirms concerns
Nestle seems far more satisfied with the decision: “While Nestlé Waters is not a party to the case, we are pleased that today’s ruling confirms the United States Forest Service can continue to move forward with the permit renewal process related to our Arrowhead brand,” Christopher Rieck, spokesman for Nestlé Waters North America Inc., said in a statement. “We take our responsibility as a water steward in California seriously and that is why we do not pump water from the Arrowhead Springs, but rather only source water that flows to the surface“, Rieck said, in a statement. “Nestlé carefully monitors all spring sources and manages them to ensure long-term sustainability and healthy habitats“, he said.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Forest Service proposed awarding Nestlé a five-year permit for bottled water operations in the San Bernardino Mountains. But the permit won’t be issued until a National Environmental Policy Act study is completed and the Forest Service, based on this detailed environmental study, decides to grant a new one, officials said. The study — the first scientific look at the effects of Nestlé’s operations in the San Bernardino National Forest — could take two years to complete.
“Nestlé has been pulling a fast one for nearly 30 years, [...] at an obscene profit without the right to do so, but apparently our justice system is OK with that.”
– Michael O’Heaney, Story of Stuff Project executive director
“The court has just confirmed what many Americans fear, massive corporations play by a different set of rules than the rest of us,” said Eddie Kurtz, executive director of Courage Campaign Institute, in a statement. “Nestlé has been pulling a fast one for nearly 30 years, taking a public resource, depriving plants and animals of life-sustaining water, and selling that water at an obscene profit without the right to do so, but apparently our justice system is OK with that.” Michael O’Heaney, Story of Stuff Project executive director, said, “This fight is far from over.”
“Respecting nature is in our nature.” – A giant denies causing any harm to the environment
Nestlé has also been embroiled in heated debates elsewhere. This week [Sept. 2016], voters in Oregon blocked Nestlé’s plans to tap water from a spring in the Columbia River Gorge, approving a ballot measure that bans commercial water bottling in Hood River County – the first measure of its kind in the country.
“We‘re very, very efficient water users. One of the things we‘re constantly working on is how to become more efficient.“
– David Thorpe, Nestlé‘s western supply chain director
Nestlé SA, headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, is the world‘s largest food company, and its Paris-based subsidiary Nestlé Waters is the world’s biggest producer of bottled water. While the dispute over Nestlé’s bottling operation plays out in Southern California, the company has been making its case through an advertising campaign. Some of the ads on billboards and in
Growing demand of bottled water in California
The company‘s water use in the state has been growing along with its sales of bottled water. Figures provided by Nestlé show that between 2011 and 2014, during years of extreme drought, the company‘s water use in California increased 19 percent. Lawrence said, however, that the company carefully monitors its springs and adjusts the volumes of water drawn from different springs in response to the amounts flowing. In Southern California, the company can tap spring water from six locations in Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Inyo counties, and has been drawing water from five of those sites recently. The springs‘ names are printed on Arrowhead bottles: Southern Pacific Springs, Long Point Ranch, Palomar Mountain Granite Springs, Deer Canyon Springs, Arrowhead Springs and Coyote Springs.
more about
growing consumption of bottled water
“Everything is operated sustainably, we watch those flows and we manage our water take to those conditions.“
– Larry Lawrence, Nestlé‘s natural resource manager
“Everything is operated sustainably,“ Lawrence said. He said the company has been closely observing all of its springs as the drought has left less water flowing in many areas. “We watch those flows and we manage our water take to those conditions,“ he said. “We look at environmental conditions around our sources as well to make sure that there‘s no impacts other than drought impacts that we see naturally occurring.“ The company‘s water system at Arrowhead Springs is largely
Bottled water boom in the U.S.
Sales of bottled water have been booming for years in the United States. Last year, preliminary figures from the Beverage Marketing Corporation showed about $13 billion in bottled water sales in 2014, an increase of 6.1 percent from a year earlier. Bottled water plants are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and in California they are also regulated by the state‘s Department of Public Health.
The state‘s list of 108 licensed bottled water plants includes companies that sell individual-size bottles as well as larger jugs for home and office delivery. They range from CG Roxane, which packages Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water at plants in Weed and Olancha, to DS Services of America, which bottles brands such as Alhambra to Sparkletts at eight plants across California.
century, he pointed out, no one conducted environmental reviews. Now, he said, it's long overdue. Determining how much water is needed for a healthy ecosystem, he said, will require a thorough study. And that hasn‘t been done in all these years, he said, because the Forest Service lacks sufficient funding after repeated budget cuts and has a large backlog of expired permits. “It‘s a national problem,“ Earney said. “I think it‘s just improper management and poor funding.“ “I‘m not opposed to the taking of water. But the water removed needs to be surplus to the needs of the national forest.“ Earney said. If the water is needed for wildlife, he said, it should instead be diverted at the national forest‘s boundary after it has flowed through the creek.
instead, they would have to use wells or install tanks and truck in water. Cabin owners spent thousands of dollars putting
in tanks.
“Some of these people had been using the water with water rights for 80 years, and it was very costly to make the change. Nestlé takes more water from the stream in one day
than the total of all of those cabin owners in a year,“ Loe said. “It‘s just so unfair.“ “We made the little people do the right thing,“ he said, “and we‘re not making the big people do the right thing.“ Amanda Frye, a community activist who lives in Redlands, said she finds the lack of oversight by the Forest Service disturbing, particularly during the drought. “The U.S. government is just giving away our natural resources to an international corporation,“ Frye said. “I think that‘s really wrong.“
“The thing is that Nestlé continues to pay the fee that they were charged back when the permit was still valid.“ Because of that, he said, the expired permit‘s conditions have remained in effect. “Basically as long as they‘re paying the fee that was established before it expired, the permit is enforceable.“
The national forest has continued to collect a permit fee of $524 from Nestlé Waters each year. Forest Service officials said that in the 2000s there was talk of renewing Nestlé‘s
permit but that other priorities took precedence. Over the years, they said, those other priorities have included wildfires, forest thinning projects, a new rail line through Cajon Pass, and updating permits relating to Southern California Edison.
which Nestlé‘s operation is being challenged. After years of inaction, the Forest Service is now re-examining Nestlé’s permit. The agency has proposed to issue a permit that would allow Nestlé to continue operating its wells and water pipelines in the forest for five years, and the permit process is to include environmental studies. Nestlé’s use of water from the forest is also being investigated by the state water board. The company has insisted its rights are “among the most senior water rights” in California, but state officials began investigating after receiving several complaints questioning whether company actually holds valid rights.
newspapers display photos of the mountains in the San Bernardino National Forest with the slogan “Respecting nature is in our nature.” Nestlé denies causing any harm to the environment in the national forest. It says its engineers and scientists monitor the company’s water sources as well as the surrounding environment.
David Thorpe, Nestlé‘s western supply chain director, touted the company‘s water efficiency, saying it takes about 1.3 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water –
much less than soft drinks or beer. “We‘re very, very efficient water users,“ Thorpe said. “One of the things we‘re constantly working on is how to become more efficient.“ Statewide, Nestlé Waters used a total of 2,164 acre-feet of water from all sources in 2014, said Larry Lawrence, Nestlé‘s natural resource manager. That‘s about 705 million gallons – enough to irrigate roughly 700 acres of farmland, or keep two golf courses green, or fill 1,068 Olympic-size swimming pools.
“self-regulating,“ Lawrence said, because it is gravity-fed and there is no pumping involved. He said Nestlé uses the spring water that naturally flows from the ground, and the amounts change based on fluctuations in the springs‘ flow. The company says it bottled nearly 25 million gallons from Arrowhead Springs last year, on average about 68,000 gallons a day. That was down from about 27 million gallons during 2013.
Water law in California and other U.S. states
In that regard, the water laws in California and other western states generally provide fewer protections than those of much wetter states in the Great Lakes region, said Noah Hall, a professor who specializes in environmental and water law at Wayne State University in Detroit. In Minnesota, for instance, Hall said state officials respond proactively to relatively dry periods and reduce the amounts of water that permit
“The law in most western states regarding water was written more than a hundred years ago when states wanted to see streams dried up to promote economic development, it‘s time to change the law “
– Noah Hall
“One of the things that we‘re constantly looking for is additional water sources that meet our requirements. They‘re relatively rare.“
– Larry Lawrence
To meet growing demand, companies have opened more bottling plants over the years. And some, such as Nestlé, have sought out new springs. “One of the things that we‘re constantly looking for is additional water sources that meet our requirements. They‘re relatively rare.“ Lawrence said. “The drought year is a great year to go look for water because if it‘s sustaining its volume during a drought, then it‘s a nice, stable source.“
That deal, along with gradual rate increases paid by customers, has helped boost the water district‘s operating revenues, which grew from $44.7 million in 2005 to $83.4 million in 2014. It‘s not clear how much Nestlé is paying the water district, or how much the agency has benefitted from the deal. A copy of the agreement that the water district provided to The Desert Sun was heavily redacted to remove references to the price paid and other details. The water district cited an exemption in the state‘s public records law for “trade secrets.“
holders are entitled to use. “They don‘t wait for the overpumping to harm the stream during the low-flow period,“ Hall said. Not so in California, where Hall said the law is essentially „about taking the water out of the stream and using it.“
If people want to see greater protections for streams, he said, “it‘s time to change the law.“ “It would be really great if there was public information about how much water these plants actually bottled, and where it came from,“ said Peter Gleick, a water researcher who is president of the Oakland-based Pacific Institute. In order to know whether bottled water is being produced sustainably, he said, people need access to information about the sources tapped and the amounts bottled. “There‘s so much angst statewide about water in general, and a lot of it is the result of a lack of transparency about who‘s using water to do what, from where.“ Gleick said. “I‘m a fan of public transparency about water use. The other issue, of course, is there is a question about converting a public good into a private product.“ “The real issue is nobody‘s really paying attention to the local consequences on groundwater and streams.“ Gleick said.
“There‘s a real difference between saying, ’We know there‘s no problem because we‘re watching,‘ and ’We don‘t know if there‘s a problem because nobody‘s watching.‘ Those are different, and all too often with our environmental challenges, we learn that nobody‘s really watching. And that needs to be fixed.“
– Peter Gleick
Nestlé’s water use for
bottled water in California
U.S. per capita consumption
of bottled water
olympic
swimming pools
nestlé
water use
35.0 gallons per year
15.0
0.0
1976
1995
2014
more about Arrowhead Spring Water
more about Nestlé Warers
Arrowhead Water
Arrowhead Water, also known as Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, is a brand of drinking water that is sold in the western United States, particularly in Arizona, Utah, the Northwest, and in California. Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water takes its name from a natural rock formation in the San Bernardino Mountains shaped like a giant arrowhead. The arrowhead is naturally barren; it is not manicured in any way. Native American legend says the formation was burned into the mountain by the fall of an arrow from Heaven, showing the way to the healing hot springs. Nearby cold springs on Strawberry Creek in the San Bernardino National Forest are the original source and namesake of Arrowhead water.
The first documented reference to Arrowhead springs (Agua Caliente) was in records of priests stationed at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, around 1820. David Noble Smith was the founder of the first sanitarium facilities at Arrowhead Springs in 1863, which were used to treat patients with tuberculosis and numerous other ailments. By the 1880s, the Arrowhead waters were famous for their supposed curing powers. By the early 20th century, the hot springs were a popular resort for tourism and vacationing.
In 1987, Arrowhead waters joined the Nestlé company, as Nestlé had shown interest in selling drinking water. Soon after, the presence of Arrowhead water bottles in supermarkets across the Western part of the United States grew considerably.
Water sources
Water is sourced from regional area springs Arrowhead Brand Mountain Spring Water sources:
Springs in Southern California:
Southern Pacific Springs, Riverside County, CA
Arrowhead Springs, San Bernardino County, CA
Long Point Ranch Springs, Running Springs, CA
Palomar Mountain Granite Springs (PMGS), Palomar, CA
Deer Canyon Springs, San Bernardino County, CA
Springs in Northern California
Coyote Springs, Inyo County, CA
White Meadow Spring, El Dorado County, CA
Lukens Springs, Placer County, CA
Sopiago Springs, El Dorado County, CA
Sugar Pine Springs, Tuolumne County, CA
Arcadia Springs, Napa County, CA
Springs in Pacific Northwest and Western United States:
Hope Springs, Hope BC Canada Labels found in Washington list a source of the water as Hope Springs.
Ruby Springs, Chaffee County, CO A local water source since 2010 is located in Ruby Mountain Springs.
Nestlé Waters
“Companies should own every single bit
of water on the planet“
– Nestlé’s former CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe
Founded: 1992
Headquarters: Issy les Moulineaux, Paris, France
Area served: Worldwide
Number of employees: 32,201 (2011)
Sales: 6520 M CHF
Nestlé Waters is the bottled water division of the Nestlé Group. [It‘s section Nestlé Waters North America, Inc.] produces and/or distributes numerous brands of bottled water across North America. Continent-wide brands include Perrier and San Pellegrino. Key people include Tim Brown (President and CEO), Bill Pearson (EVP Finance, CFO), and David Colville (CIO). It is based in Stamford, Connecticut. Nestlé also produces bottled water under various brand names depending on the region. These brands include Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deer Park, Ice Mountain, Ozarka, Poland Spring, and Zephyrhills. Nestlé S.A. is the world‘s largest producer of bottled water and is frequently criticized for the ethics of its global control of limited water sources. Criticism of Nestlé centers around its limiting of local peoples‘ access to water resources as well as environmental concerns.
Controversies
Ice Mountain has been part of the Great Lakes water use debate in which diversion of the basin‘s water for export has been controversial.In 2004, a Michigan court ordered pumping of Sanctuary springs to cease. After an appellate court overturned the cease and desist, the company and local groups came to an agreement to pump only 218 US gallons (830 L) per minute, which is comparable to other local beverage operations. Nestlé has run into similar local opposition when trying to locate a new source location near the headwaters of the White River in the upper lower peninsula of Michigan.
Several towns in Maine have objected to the business practices of Poland Spring and its parent company Nestlé. In some towns, such as Fryeburg, Maine, Poland Spring actually buys the water from another company, the Fryeburg Water Co., and ships it to the Poland Spring bottling plant in Poland Spring. However, Fryeburg Water Co. also sells water to the town of Fryeburg. [Read more in the story about FRYEBURG.] The town of Sterling, Massachusetts is attempting to prevent Nestlé from pumping spring water from conservation restricted town land. Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) has responded to an RFP issued by the Town of Clinton to purchase the Town of Clinton‘s Wekepeke aquifer water rights located in Sterling
History of Nestlé Waters
1845: Henri Nestlé establishes his first lemonade and water
bottling factory.
1866 Foundation of the Nestlé Group
1969: Acquisition of a 30% stake in the Société Générale des Eaux Minérales de Vittel in France
1974: Acquisition of the German Blaue Quellen group
1987: Nestlé S.A. takes a majority stake in Vitter and joins with
Arrowhead
1992: Acquisition of the Source Perrier S.A. Source Perrier SA Group.Nestlé becomes the leading player on the world bottled water market, under the name of Nestlé Sources International
1996: NSI changes its name to accelerate its international development and becomes: Perrier Vittel S.A.
1998: Take-over of Italy’s leading bottled water producer, Sanpellegrino S.p.A And Launch of Nestlé Pure Life, the first multi-site bottled water under the Nestlé Brand
2000: Simultaneous launch of Nestlé Aquarel, pan-European, multi-site spring water on six markets
2001: Acquisition by Perrier Vittel of Al Manhal, the leading bottled water company in Saudi Arabia which becomes the leading bottled water player in the Middle East region
2002: Perrier Vav Vittel becomes Nestlé Waters CEO Leader
2005: Nestlé Waters further develops its business on the African continent via the launch of Nestlé Pure Life in Nigeria and the creation of a partnership in Algeria
2006: Nestlé Waters acquires the majority shares in Erikli and becomes the Turkish market leader.
2007: Nestlé Waters acquires Sources Minérales Henniez S.A. and becomes the Swiss leader in the bottled water market. Joint venture agreements signed in Mexico and Chile.
2008: Nestlé Pure Life, has become in just a decade the world‘s leading bottled water brand, with 5 billion liters sold worldwide.
2009: Nestlé Waters strengthens its presence in two key emerging countries: in Brazil by acquiring Àguas de Santa Barbara in the São Paulo region; and in China by acquiring Dashan Drinks, the leading bottled water player in Yunnan Province
Consumption of bottled water
“The growth of the bottled water industry is a story about twenty first-century controversies and contradictions: poverty versus glitterati; perception versus reality; private gain versus public loss. Today people visit luxury water ’bars‛ stocked with bottled water shipped in from every corner of the world.“
– Peter H. Gleick in his book Bottled & Sold
Bottled water has become the drink of choice for many people around the world, and sales have skyrocketed over the past few years. In 2014, for example, more than 74 billion gallons of bottled water were sold worldwide. Americans alone purchased more than 11 billion gallons in 2015 for an annual average of over 34 gallons per person — a 75 percent increase since 2001.
Bottled water has become so popular that it now outsells both milk and beer in the United States. Carbonated soft drinks are the only bottled beverage that U.S. consumers buy in greater quantities than bottled water, and per-capita sales of bottled water are rising while per-capita sales of milk and soft drinks are going down. The irony here, of course, is that a lot of bottled water is little more than tap water, which costs very little and is much better regulated and more rigorously tested than bottled water.
Why the great growth in bottled water sales?
Bottled water typically costs a thousand times more per liter than high-quality municipal tap water. Are consumers willing to pay this price because they believe that bottled water is safer than tap water? Do they have a real taste preference for bottled water? Or is the convenience of the portable plastic bottle the major factor? Are they taken in by the images portrayed in commercials and on the bottles?
The answers are consequential. We estimate that total global consumer expenditures for bottled water are approximately $100 billion per year – a vast sum that both indicates consumers are willing to pay for convenient and reliable drinking water and that society has the resources to make comparable expenditures to provide far greater quantities of water for far less money by investing in reliable domestic supplies.
„I believe that bottled water is a symptom of a larger set of issues: the long-term decay of our public water systems. inequitable access to safe water around the world, our susceptibility to advertising and marketing, and a society trained from birth to buy, consume, and throw away.“
– Peter H. Gleick in his book Bottled & Sold
Nestlé Waters North America provided figures summarizing its total water use in California during the past four years. The water comes from springs and other sources. Nestle says that while its overall water use has increased, its water efficiency has improved. The company also says it carefully monitors its springs and depending on the conditions can alternate the springs it uses to “ensure long-term sustainability.”
note: All gallons figures have been rounded to the nearest million.
source: Nestlé Waters North America
source: http://bottled-waterrr.blogspot.de
photo: Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun
photo: Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun
photo: Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun
photo: Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun
photo: Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun
2013
654 million gallons
2012
618 million gallons
2011
591 million gallons