Unless some people have been living under a rock or shutting themselves away in anticipation of an apocalypse that never took place, everyone knows that 2015 California has been drier than a poorly-made Thanksgiving turkey. The rest of the nation has watched as California has become an allegory of what Hell is like. I have yelled at nature on more than one occasion for not sending the copious amounts of rain that fell on North Texas in June where it was needed.
Even though California has become a 163,696 square mile tinderbox, capitalist devils at Nestle have continued sapping what little water remained in the state so soccer moms and fracking victims can drink bourgeois bottled water. Thankfully, some environmentalists are fed up and have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service for allowing Nestle to continue bottling precious H2O… with a permit that expired 27 years ago.
The lawsuit, filed last week, claims that the U.S. Forest Service has allowed Nestle to divert illegally millions of gallons of water from San Bernardino National Forest so Nestle can use that water for its Arrowhead brand bottled water, all while California has turned into a land of saltine crackers. The lawsuit’s plaintiffs — the Center for Biological Diversity, the Story of Stuff Project, and the Courage Campaign Institute — are calling for the U.S. Forest Service to shut down Nestle’s H2O vein and conduct an environmental review. They further contend that the U.S. Forest Service is actually violating its own policies by continuing to allow Nestle to siphon the water since Nestle is siphoning from an already-depleted water source and is harming local habitats and wildlife in the process.
Courage Campaign Institute executive director Eddie Kurtz called out Nestle and the U.S. Forest Service:
“Nestle’s actions aren’t just morally bankrupt, they are illegal. In the Spring, we asked Nestle to do the right thing, and they threw it back in our faces, telling Californians they’d take more of our water if they could. The U.S. Forest Service has been enabling Nestle’s illegal bottling in the San Bernardino National Forest for 27 years, and it has to stop. Our government won’t stand up to them, so we’re taking matters into our own hands.”
Nestle bottles Arrowhead water specifically from Strawberry Creek. The water levels at Strawberry Creek have been recorded at record lows.
Ileene Anderson, Senior Scientist and Public Lands Deserts Director for the Center for Biological Diversity, commented on the state of Strawberry Creek:
“California is in the middle of its worst drought in centuries, and the wildlife that rely on Strawberry Creek, including southwestern willow flycatchers and numerous amphibians, are seeing their precious water siphoned away every day. It’s inexcusable for the Forest Service to allow this piping system to continue year after year without a permit for any review of how it’s affecting wildlife or local streams. The forest and the wildlife that live there deserve better.”
Before the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit while California was busy readying itself to spontaneously combust, a staggering 500,000 people signed a petition calling on Nestle to stop bottling water in California. Polling has found that most Americans believe Nestle should stop bottling water in California. However, despite the public outcry, Nestle strives to continue dehydrating Strawberry Creek. Nestle CEO Tim Brown has publicly stated that he has no intent on even considering moving Nestle’s bottling operations out of California in a fashion that would make Pharma Bro jump with joy.
“In fact, if I could increase it, I would.”
Of course, he would.
I understand the sense of entitlement and authority that comes with being the world’s apex predator, but this speciesism needs to stop. Bottled water is not worth the callous destruction of a habitat. It’s not worth the money Nestle makes off bottled water and it sure as hell is not worth the $524 Nestle gives the U.S. Forest Service every year to keep sucking water from Strawberry Creek.
A copy of the lawsuit can be read here.
