Protesters are trying to 'drought shame' Nestle out of California
Last month, Southern California newspaper The Desert Sun reported that Nestle had been drawing water from an area just north of Palm Springs for nearly 30 years without officially testing how the bottling operation may be affecting the environment. According to the Sun, the company also has not renewed its permit to transport water from the forest since 1988.
In response to these reports and a growing sense of alarm about the situation in the state, protestors gathered outside two Nestle plants on Wednesday to demand that the company stop bottling water in the state. Many of them waved signs referencing a petition that has gotten 500,000 signatures and demands that the company leave California.
Representatives from the San Bernardino National Forest Service, the area of land where Nestle is bottling its water, told the Sun they didn't know the permit had expired. They also said that they were in the process of investigating the operation's environmental impacts.
Business Insider's request for comment from the San Bernardino National Forest Service wasn't immediately returned.
Despite the protests, Nestle seems unlikely to back down from its water bottling operations.
In an interview with KPCC earlier in May, Nestle Waters North America's CEO Tim Brown defended his company's decision to draw water from the state, pointing out that "If I stop bottling water tomorrow, people would buy a different brand of bottled water." He then added, "In fact, if I could increase [bottling], I would."
Other companies have responded to calls to stop bottling operations in California. Last week, for example, Starbucks declared it would be moving its bottling operations out of state.
But others have continued to bottle water despite the drought. Wal-Mart, for example, still bottles water in California, as do companies at more than 100 other plants that are still licensed to bottle water in the state.