Companies such as Starbucks and most recently Walmart have come under fire for sourcing their bottled water in California despite the ongoing drought.
Water bottle companies including Aquafina, Crystal Geyser, Arrowhead, and Dasani are also facing criticism for drawing from California’s groundwater and municipal water supplies.
Fueling the outrage are the harsh, unprecedented water restrictions placed on residents statewide by Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Calif.) beginning of April.
Residents are asking why companies can be allowed to continue reaping a profit from the state's scarce water supply while residents must carefully monitor their water use or otherwise get slammed with a $500 fine.
What these residents may not be aware of is how the amount of water drawn by bottler companies pales in comparison to the state's overall usage.
According to the California Dept. of Water Resources, bottled water companies use 2.6 billion gallons of the state’s water supply per year. That amount is a drop in the bucket in comparison to the 2.4 trillion gallons used by city residents and the 8.6 trillion by agriculture.
(The International Bottled Water Association writes, "Despite the bottled water industry's size, the amount of water used is relatively tiny compared to tap water volumes." To put their statement into perspective, bottled water accounts for less than 0.01% of all the water used in the United States each year and only 0.02% of the all the water used in California every year.
Criticized as a wasteful terror to the environment, Starbucks has decided to move its bottled water operation out of California and into Philadelphia.
“We are committed to our mission to be a globally responsible company and to support the people of the state of California as they face this unprecedented drought,” said John Kelly, Starbucks senior vice president of Global Responsibility and Public Policy. “The decision to move our Ethos water sourcing from California and reduce our in-store water usage by more than 25 percent are steps we are taking in partnership with state and local governments to accelerate water conservation.”
The next company to take their business elsewhere could be Walmart or any of the water bottlers being demonized by liberal environmentalists.
Walmart told MRCTV that there is a large misunderstanding surrounding their bottled water sourcing.
Unlike Starbucks, Walmart does not own its supplier DS Services. Their bottler buys the water from the city of Sacramento and then bottles that water for sale. Approximately 90-percent of the bottled water distributed by DS Services goes to other grocers, retailers, and businesses, says Walmart media relations contact John Forrest.
"The drought in California is very concerning for many of our customers and our associates," said Walmart spokesperson in a recent statement. "We share those concerns and are tracking it closely."
"Our commitment to sustainability includes efforts to minimize water use in our facilities. We have and continue to work with our suppliers to act responsibly while meeting the needs of customers who count on us across California.”
Motivating businesses to leave California because of a perception problem is the last thing the state needs given its financial troubles.