text: This archive preserves access to hundreds of California state agency sites. State agencies utilize their websites to publish everything from press releases, agendas, minutes, events, reports and statistics. This material is especially volatile as leadership changes or as time sensitive issues are no longer on agendas or in the news. The archive is maintained by government information specialists and web curators across several UC campuses, the Stanford University Libraries, the California State Library, and the California State Archives. ||||| California Says Nestle Lacks Permits To Extract Millions Of Gallons Of Water 
   
   Enlarge this image toggle caption California State Water Board California State Water Board 
   
   California regulators say Nestle may have to stop collecting a large portion of the water it bottles from the San Bernardino National Forest, because it lacks the legal permits for millions of gallons of water. Nestle sells the water under the Arrowhead label. 
   
   The State Water Board says that of the 62.6 million gallons of water that Nestle says it extracted from the San Bernardino spring each year on average from 1947 to 2015, the company may only have a right to some 8.5 million gallons. Those numbers come from a nearly two-year investigation. 
   
   The state says Nestle should apply for a new permit and ensure that all of its water diversions comply with California regulations, laying out a timeline for the company to respond. 
   
   The Water Board began investigating after several complaints were made against Nestle during California's recent drought. Spurred by a 2015 report in the Desert Sun newspaper, the allegations against Nestle ranged from accusation that the giant company lacked full rights to the water it was selling to claims that its actions were harming the natural environment and its inhabitants. 
   
   Nestle has said it monitors its spring sites to be sure they don't cause problems, and the Water Board's report was less conclusive on those points. But Nestle wasn't able to satisfy Water Board investigators who wanted to clarify how much water the company could lawfully extract. 
   
   "While Nestlé may be able to claim a valid basis of right to some water in Strawberry Canyon," the board says in its report, "a significant portion of the water currently diverted by Nestlé appears to be diverted without a valid basis of right." 
   
   When the Desert Sun published its story about Nestle's Arrowhead operation back in 2015, the newspaper's Ian James told NPR, "Nestle has 11 spring sources that it uses in California as well as five bottling plants. And the water that's bottled comes both from springs as well as from other supplies pumped directly from groundwater or from municipal supplies." 
   
   In that 2015 story, James said that he found California lacked reliable state-wide oversight data on the bottled-water industry. 
   
   California's State Water Board recently sent Nestle a letter summarizing its report. As for what the company must do now, the board issued a string of recommendations, giving Nestle 60 days to submit a compliance plan and 90 days to submit an investigation and monitoring plan. 
   
   Member station KPCC reports: 
   
   "Nestle said it was too soon to say what impact, if any, the letter would have on Arrowhead bottled water. A spokeswoman said she was pleased that the report reaffirms Nestle holds valid rights to 'a significant amount' of water." 
   
   Water from the headwaters of Strawberry Creek in the San Bernardino National Forest has been bottled since the late 1800s — and Nestle had told California regulators that the claim to the water by the original owner of the Arrowhead Springs Hotel had extended through the years to the Swiss multinational. 
   
   Water Board officials did not agree, saying that while the hotel's use was riparian — taking place at the water's origin — Nestle couldn't convert that to an "appropriative use." 
   
   The board left open the possibility that Nestle could make a valid claim to extract more water from the forest land. ||||| FILE - In this July 16, 2002, file photo, shows the warehousing area of the Arrowhead Water Bottling plant is part of the 383,000 square foot structure in Cabazon, Calif. Nestle, which sells Arrowhead... (Associated Press) 
   
   LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nestle, which sells Arrowhead bottled water, may have to stop taking millions of gallons of water from Southern California's San Bernardino National Forest because state regulators concluded it lacks valid permits. 
   
   The State Water Resources Control Board notified the company on Wednesday that an investigation concluded it doesn't have proper rights to about three-quarters of the water it withdraws for bottling. 
   
   "A significant portion of the water currently diverted by Nestle appears to be diverted without a valid basis of right," the report concluded. 
   
   Nestle Waters North America was urged to cut back its water withdrawals unless it can show it has valid water rights to its current sources or to additional groundwater. 
   
   The company, a division of the Swiss food giant, also was given 60 days to submit an interim compliance plan. 
   
   Nestle said it was pleased that the report reaffirms that it holds valid rights to "a significant amount" of water. 
   
   "We will continue to operate lawfully according to these existing rights and will comply fully with California law," Nestle added in a statement. 
   
   The report also was applauded by activists who have fought to turn off Nestle's tap in the forest. 
   
   Amanda Frye, who filed one of the complaints that prompted the investigation, said she was pleased with the result although she hadn't read the entire report. 
   
   "I feel like it's a victory," Frye told the Desert Sun of Palm Springs. "I'm happy that the State Water Resources Control Board did pursue it and look into it. I feel that they're protecting the people of California." 
   
   Nestle took about 32 million gallons of water from wells and water collection tunnels in the forest last year. A long water board investigation concluded that it only had the right to withdraw 26 acre-feet per year, or about 8.5 million gallons. 
   
   Nestle has contended that it inherited rights dating back more than a century to collect water from the forest northeast of Los Angeles. It uses the water in its Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water. 
   
   Opponents of the water withdrawal have long sought to turn off Nestle's tap, arguing that it lacked proper permits and that the water usage could harm the environment and wildlife, particularly in the midst of California's drought. 
   
   In 2015, the U.S. Forest Service was sued by environmental and public interest groups who allege the company was being allowed to operate its Strawberry Canyon pipeline on a permit that expired in 1988. 
   
   However, the court ruled that the company could continue water operations while its application to renew the permit was pending. ||||| This archive preserves access to hundreds of California state agency sites. State agencies utilize their websites to publish everything from press releases, agendas, minutes, events, reports and statistics. This material is especially volatile as leadership changes or as time sensitive issues are no longer on agendas or in the news. The archive is maintained by government information specialists and web curators across several UC campuses, the Stanford University Libraries, the California State Library, and the California State Archives.
target: – Nestle extracted roughly 32 million gallons of water from Southern California's San Bernardino National Forest in 2016 and sold it as Arrowhead bottled water. An investigation has determined the company's permits only allow it to take about 8.5 million gallons per year. The AP reports the news is being hailed by opponents to Nestle's action—and by Nestle. The company reportedly described itself as pleased that the State Water Resources Control Board's report confirms it has the right to access "a significant amount" of water. "We will continue to operate lawfully according to these existing rights and will comply fully with California law," Nestle said in a statement. The longer view isn't quite as favorable sounding: NPR reports that between 1947 and 2015, Nestle extracted an average 62.6 million gallons annually, with the rights unchanged at 8.5 million. Nestle told the state its claim to the water dates to an 1865 claim held by the owner of the Arrowhead Springs Hotel; the board found that claim was limited to "riparian"—meaning at the water's origin—use "and is not valid for Nestle’s current appropriative diversion and use of water" from the forest. The company was notified of the findings—the result of an investigation begun in 2016 and borne from complaints spurred by the state's drought—on Dec. 20. A letter accompanying the findings recommended that Nestle immediately halt unauthorized distributions and outlined steps it recommends the company take over the next 18 months.