More on Nestlé's California Water Theft

[cursichella1]

James Corbett interview with Claire Bernish, journalist instrumental in exposing Nestle's continuing theft of California's water for profit during extreme draught. Below, Bernish's article from August 20, 2015

Today James talks (Corbett) talks to Claire Bernish, an independent reporter for The Pontiac Tribune and The Anti-Media, about her recent report, “Nestle Pays Only $524 to Extract 27,000,000 Gallons of California Drinking Water.” We talk about the (expired) permit that has allowed Nestle to pump the water from the San Bernardino National Forest for decades, the effect it is having on California’s drought-ravaged ecosystem, the growing movement to draw awareness to the issue, and reddit’s censorship of Bernish’s viral article.https://www.corbettreport.com/interv...water-scandal/

Audio

Nestle Pays Only $524 to Extract 27,000,000 Gallons of California Drinking Water

August 20, 2015
Claire Bernish

(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.

There is another site the company drains for profit while California’s historic drought rages on: Deer Canyon. Last year, Nestle drew 76 million gallons from the springs in that location, which is a sizable increase over 2013’s 56 million-gallon draw — and under circumstances just as questionable as water collection at Arrowhead.

This extensive collection of water is undoubtedly having detrimental effects on the ecosystem and its numerous endangered and threatened species, though impact studies aren’t available because they were mysteriously stopped before ever getting underway.

In fact, the review process necessary to renew Nestle’s antiquated permit met a similarly enigmatic termination: once planning stages made apparent the hefty price tag and complicated steps said review would entail, the review was simply dropped. Completely. Without any new stipulations or stricter regulations added to the expired permit that Nestle was ostensibly following anyway — though, obviously, that remains an open question.

In 2014, Nestle used roughly 705 million gallons of water in its operations in California, according to natural resource manager Larry Lawrence. That’s 2,164 acre-feet of water — enough to “irrigate 700 acres of farmland” or “fill 1,068 Olympic-sized swimming pools,” as Ian James pointed out in The Desert Sun.

Though there is no way to verify exactly how much Nestle must spend to produce a single bottle of Arrowhead spring water, the astronomical profit is undeniable fact: the most popular size of a bottle of Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water (1 liter) retails for 89¢ — putting the potential profit for Nestle in the tens of billions.

Activists have called for a boycott of Nestle Waters and all Nestle products until they are held accountable for their actions in California.

There is much more to be revealed in future articles as the investigation into Nestle’s reckless profit-seeking during California’s unprecedented drought continues.

Original article with links to related articles

[OBwan]

Tapped, Full Documentary, the movie

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TFe9FdtBmWw

[rgray222]

I am always amazed that we seem to get extremely mad at these large corporations for their greedy hedonistic behavior, but we never seem to put the blame where it needs to be placed, the government. Local, State and Federal Governments not only allow this behavior they encourage it. The shame should be placed on the Government.

I am a fairly strong believer that less government is good, but I also believe that the government has one job to do and that is protect its citizens. When it comes to taking millions of gallons of ground water out of an area that experiencing severe drought, it is not only sheer madness but it is extremely dangerous for all the citizens of that state.

I remember that it was not long ago that the state of New York tried to prevent people from purchasing soft drinks larger that 16 ounces.

The people running the government have quite literally gone insane!

[Robin]

Posted by rgray222 (here)
I am always amazed that we seem to get extremely mad at these large corporations for their greedy hedonistic behavior, but we never seem to put the blame where it needs to be placed, the government. Local, State and Federal Governments not only allow this behavior they encourage it. The shame should be placed on the Government.

I am a fairly strong believer that less government is good, but I also believe that the government has one job to do and that is protect its citizens. When it comes to taking millions of gallons of ground water out of an area that experiencing severe drought, it is not only sheer madness but it is extremely dangerous for all the citizens of that state.

I remember that it was not long ago that the state of New York tried to prevent people from purchasing soft drinks larger that 16 ounces.

The people running the government have quite literally gone insane!

And who do you think votes people in to the government? A government cannot be created without the consent of the people who allow them to do what they do. It is the general public and their collective ignorance and apathy who are truly responsible. There is no such thing as legitimate government. Anarchism all the way, baby!

[rgray222]

Posted by Robin (here)

And who do you think votes people in to the government? A government cannot be created without the consent of the people who allow them to do what they do. It is the general public and their collective ignorance and apathy who are truly responsible. There is no such thing as legitimate government. Anarchism all the way, baby!

Robin
I don't necessary disagree with you. I am not sure how anarchy could ever be sustained for any period of time. If everyone freely accepted anarchy as a way of life then it would not necessarily be anarchy.

Legitimate governments and elections are probably worthy of their own threads. That said we may see anarchy in our lifetime if governments continue to behave in ways that goes against the natural order of the universe.

[amor]

This post on water has given me the opportunity to comment on a recent radio advertisement by the water authority of Gainsville, who are prominently stating that their water is RECYCLED, in order to make the water go further (I am putting the idea in my own words). Recycled water is POISONOUS, containing chemicals, medications, etc., which can only be removed by fractional distillation, a process too expensive to be employed in large quantities by counties. I will lay odds that these organizations have had it made worth their while to sell water to water bottling companies while eroding the health of the citizens who are merely ignorant slaves without any real power to change anything.

[Citizen No2]

Nestle Pays Only $524 to Extract 27,000,000 Gallons of California Drinking Water............. And then sells it back to you for $6 a gallon.

What a great business model, where do I sign up?


As someone far cleverer than I once said:

you want to see what the future will look like? Imagine a booted foot, stamping down on you........ forever!

Regards.

[Violet]

Disturbing. There's a similar story with an American soda brand leeching Indian water.

Amor, isn't tap water usually recycled? You know, some of those slaves aren't as ignorant as they look. They just don't have direct power to make a direct change.

[Cardillac]

the Swiss-based firm (if my read resources are correct) Nestlé has its tentacles into just about everything and not just chocolates; many European spas/thermal baths (geothermic warmth heating hot water springs- very soothing) thanks to Nestlé's take-over are no longer medicinally recognized even though the mineral contents of these waters are very beneficial; a classic example: Evians-les-Bains in France not too far from the German border (where the famous bottled water Evian comes from) has now (thanks to Nestlé's take-over)) been turned into the "Club Mediterranian" which is nothing more than a money-sucking recreational center (has nothing more to deal with healing) and thanks to that all medical insurance companies have turned their backs on Evian-les-Bains (among countless other spas all throughout Europe);

so don't get me started on the false benevolence/neutrality of the country Switzerland; thanks to the Swiss banking codes of secrecy (how thoughtful!) this tiny Alpine country has been THE major money-laundering land in the world-

Larry

[Cardillac]

addendum to my last posting: do we see a connection here between different sources of water control?- so who is behind Nestlé?

Larry