As we watch ground water being polluted by unregulated industrial runoff and fossil fuel fracking under the Trump regime, there's a Swiss multinational food conglomerate -- Nestlé -- literally sucking fresh water out of our creeks and groundwater, bottling it in plastic and selling it for huge profits. Tom Perkins in The Guardian reports that Nestlé, which owns 51 water brands including Poland Spring and Ice Mountain, made billions of dollars worldwide from its bottled water sales. Perkins reports that in their drive to privatize water in the U.S., California has become a target despite the recurring drought conditions there:
"The network of clear streams comprising California’s Strawberry Creek run down the side of a steep, rocky mountain in a national forest two hours east of Los Angeles. Last year Nestlé siphoned 45m gallons of pristine spring water from the creek and bottled it under the Arrowhead Water label.The states of Maine, Pennsylvania and Oregon have also felt Nestlé's pressure in their search for fresh water, along with some obvious, and successful, attempts at buying off local communities with cash and public amenities. It's doubly damaging that Nestlé's multiple companies bottle the water in disposable plastic bottles, which are a huge separate problem for the environment.
Though it’s on federal land, the Swiss bottled water giant paid the US Forest Service and state practically nothing, and it profited handsomely: Nestlé Waters’ 2018 worldwide sales exceeded $7.8bn.
Conservationists say some creek beds in the area are now bone dry and once-gushing springs have been reduced to mere trickles. The Forest Service recently determined Nestlé’s activities left Strawberry Creek 'impaired' while 'the current water extraction is drying up surface water resources'”. (our emphasis)
Not surprisingly, corrupt sociopath Donald "Individual-1" Trump's small fingerprints are on the Government's laxity in preserving water on public lands. From Perkins' article:
"The Forest Service’s Strawberry Creek permit decision references a 2017 Trump executive order that seems to speak to the controversy. It requires federal agencies to “ensure that water users’ private property rights are not encumbered when they attempt to secure permits to operate on public lands.”This is a prime example of a profit-hungry multinational corporation overriding the public interest while a corrupt administration looks on and cheers. It won't stop until and unless we remove the current regime and their enablers from office.
Former Forest Service special uses leader Gary Earney administered Nestlé’s water permit between 1984 and 2007 and is now one of its most vocal critics.
During that time, he witnessed 'devastating' Forest Service budget cuts that made it impossible to monitor Nestle’s activities or properly manage the forest, but Nestlé was there to help – it set up a nonprofit to solicit money for projects." (our emphasis)
(Photo: AP. The Nestlé Arrowhead Mountain water plant in California)
