Nestlé had a permit to take water from the San Bernardino National Forest, but this permit expired in 1988! Since then, although the permit has not been renewed, Nestlé has taken an estimated 1,838,451,342 gallons of water plus from the San Bernardino at a fraction of the cost that ordinary Californian citizens would pay.
Even while California was facing its worst drought ever, Nestlé ignored requests to stop taking water for bottling from the forest. Tim Brown, the CEO of Nestlé Waters North America, reportedly told a journalist during the height of the drought that not only would they not stop taking water but that they would actually increase their take if they could.
The Story of Stuff Project’s global community of over one million members caused a huge outcry with their campaign and movie, This land is Our Land, and when it petitioned Nestlé to completely cease taking water from public lands, Nestlé’s CEO responded to them directly:
“The feedback and constructive criticism that Nestlé gets from groups like Story of Stuff is important, even when we disagree. In fact, we have used input like this on many occasions globally to adapt our operations… One thing I would appreciate is some perspective on how we might do it better in the eyes of your constituents.â€
[Source: The Story of Stuff]
While Nestlé sought a private meeting with The Story of Stuff’s staff, they decided that was not good enough and that what was actually required was lasting, global change in the way that Nestlé appropriates public water, and The Story of Stuff Project, Center for Biological Diversity and Courage Campaign has filed a lawsuit against Nestlé.
The Story of Stuff has some very simple demands of Nestlé:
- Stop bottling water from the San Bernardino National Forest and other protected lands
- Withdraw from all sites where communities are protesting the privatization of their water, including Cascade Locks OR, Kunkletown PA, Mt. Shasta, CA, Fryeburg, ME, and Vancouver, BC
- Pay to clean up the waste generated by polluting plastic products. Stop pushing the cost of clean-up onto taxpayers.
It is time that companies such as Nestlé think beyond profit and realise the damage that they are doing to communities and to the environment with their plastic bottles of water and their hunger for profits to the detriment of others.
Get home water cooler and office water cooler in London. Purchase water coolers online and hire water dispensers from Living-Water.
