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

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D

Dalek

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

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.
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2

213372bu

Banned
This all depends on whether or not they use that land for educational purposes, own the entire land it is on, preserve nature etc. etc.

It's not that black and white all the time, and I doubt it is if they are only paying $524.
 
S

sarcastor

Member
I get guilt trip into taking shorter showers. Meanwhile these evil bastards are stealing 27,000,000 gallons of water. Per year. And making like $50,000,000?

Gotta love politics.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
I've been boycotting Nestle products for a while, but it's really hard (they make so many things that some things probably do sneak by me), and I doubt they care about just a few people not buying their shit when their margins are so high.
 
G

G.ZZZ

Member
But guys, how could it be bad to make food and water patentable and controlled by multibillionaire corps?

Food corps are the between worst on the planet. I hope the world wake up and make food and water a basic human right not ownable by corps somewhere in the next 20 years.
 
K

kAmui-

Member
Nestle is one of the scummiest companies I know. I've been boycotting their products for a couple of years now and I don't intend to stop anytime soon.
 
K

Kyzer

Banned
It does cost money to process water...

$524 for 27 million gallons though? Holy shit itls like they won the lottery twice
 
O

old manatee

Banned
I'm sure the savings will trickle down.

Honestly though why even bother charging them the $500. Water is a basic human right and corporations are people now.
 
G

Gigglepoo

Member
I blame Jerry Brown. He's done nothing to help our water situation other than blaming citizens to use less. Ridiculous. It's not an individuals' water use that's draining our water beds and reservoirs.
 
N

NateDrake

Member
Shame that more people don't boycott Nestle correctly. I've seen people refuse to buy Nestle water only to buy Poland Spring Water. Guess what...Nestle distributes Poland Spring.
 
D

Dr.Acula

Banned
SFenton said:
Pretty sure he was referring to Nestle's stance.
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I think Nestlé was a little more nuanced. Their argument was essentially that resources need to be managed, and you can't just have anyone grabbing from a source without measuring their usage.

Still, they shouldn't be allowed to use that much water for basically nothing, given their profit margins. Farmers use much more water, but at least their produce is comparatively cheap.
 
M

Mental Atrophy

Banned
They're pushing to do the same around here near Portland, Oregon. I really don't have a problem with profiting on our water, but it's ridiculous how little money they have to pay to exploit the land. I don't think the bottling and extraction facilities generate enough jobs for them to basically print free money from our resources.
 
A

Africanus

Member
It's times like these I'm glad Lake Michigan will be one of the last water sources to dry up before the Great Water Wars of the minor distant future.

Seriously, what a sham of an operation by Nestle.
 
K

KevinRo

Member
Kyzer said:
It does cost money to process water...

$524 for 27 million gallons though? Holy shit itls like they won the lottery twice
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That's what they only collected. They used an addition 50 million gallons from the area.

People want to hate on the Corporations, sure. I'm more angry that we put these crooks into office that allow this shit to happen in the first place.
 
A

AntoneM

Member
G.ZZZ said:
But guys, how could it be bad to make food and water patentable and controlled by multibillionaire corps?

Food corps are the between worst on the planet. I hope the world wake up and make food and water a basic human right not ownable by corps somewhere in the next 20 years.
Click to expand...
What food in general is patented other than hybrids and genetically modified varieties?
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
They're pulling the same shit here in Canada and it's fucking terrifying. The idea that any government would be okay with this is disgusting.
 
G

Gigglepoo

Member
KevinRo said:
People want to hate on the Corporations, sure. I'm more angry that we put these crooks into office that allow this shit to happen in the first place.
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I honestly don't condemn companies for taking advantage of unjust laws to increase their profit margin. That's kind of what companies exist to do. However, I do blame the politicians who drew up these laws for being greedy, self-serving, and/or incompetent.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
NateDrake said:
Shame that more people don't boycott Nestle correctly. I've seen people refuse to buy Nestle water only to buy Poland Spring Water. Guess what...Nestle distributes Poland Spring.
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And Arrowhead. And several other brands and food products. It's actually not that easy to completely boycott them.
 
R

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
balladofwindfishes said:
A big issue with Nestle is it's hard to even boycott them since it's hard to even tell what they own. They've got their hands in, like, 50% of a grocery store and most aren't even labeled as Nestle
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For prospective

I'm on a kindle so I had the img quoted

580289_480285708677755_1459649519_n.jpg
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T

Tuck

Member
Yeah this should not be allowed to happen - not just in California. Anywhere.

Bottled water is a gross industry, but if it should be allowed to happen then they should at least be paying for the water. At a premium, preferably.
 
J

Jackpot

Banned
Gigglepoo said:
I honestly don't condemn companies for taking advantage of unjust laws to increase their profit margin. That's kind of what companies exist to do. However, I do blame the politicians who drew up these laws for being greedy, self-serving, and/or incompetent.
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Really? Having a lax police force doesn't excuse committing crimes.

And why paint companies as if they're conscious entities that perform actions independent of the people that run them. It's individual people who carried out these actions. You blame the politicians but not Nestle for lobbying the shit out of them and actively fishing for corrupt people to make laws in their favour.
 
G

Gigglepoo

Member
Jackpot said:
Really? Having a lax police force doesn't excuse committing crimes.

And why paint companies as if they're conscious entities that perform actions independent of the people that run them. It's individual people who carried out these actions. You blame the politicians but not Nestle for lobbying the shit out of them and actively fishing for corrupt people to make laws in their favour.
Click to expand...

Obviously, everything you say is true. I just wish the people in power worried more about the needs of their constituents rather than the needs of corporations. Neslte wouldn't be allowed to do this if our government functioned correctly, no matter how crooked they are.
 
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