On Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service – which originally granted the company a permit to siphon water – was sued by multiple activist groups for letting Nestle continue to bottle the region’s precious water.
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The Center for Biological Diversity, the Story of Stuff Project and the Courage Campaign Institute filed the suit in federal court against the U.S. Federal Forest Service. They claimed that Nestlé’s permit had expired in 1988, but still it has been piping out between 50 million and 150 million gallons of water every year from the southern Californian forest for using in its bottled water brand, Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water. They say the water pipeline’s use should be stalled “unless and until it issues a valid special use permit”. According to the Times, environmentalists claim Nestle’s removal of water from the San Bernardino National Forest is threatening the habitats of birds, fish, snakes, and frogs.
The company pays an annual permit fee of $524.
As the permit has allegedly expired, the environmental groups have urged the US Forest Service to stop the firm from drawing any further water and conduct peer review and analyse the environmental impact of the company’s operations, reported The Guardian.
The groups say the prolonged drought in California combined with the bottling operation is affecting area wildlife.
Forest Service officials did not give any details about the allegations.
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The Forest Service declined to comment on the lawsuit but said Nestle has applied to renew its permit and can continue to operate while that application is pending. A month later, the agency announced it was investigating the permit. Nestle has five bottling plants in California and uses about 705 million gallons of the state’s water per year.
