Bottled Water....

[Darian]

In keeping with the prior thread on diversion of water, it's interesting to note that nobody has mentioned the water bottling plant in south sacramento, operated by Nestle' Waters North America (Nestle is a Swiss owned company). The bottling plant was originally planned for the township of McCloud and would've tapped both surface and spring water from that area. Considering that location was in an area where headwaters of smaller rivers, streams would've been impacted, there was a lot of resistance from locals. Nestle' began looking around for another location and found that the City of Sacramento sold water at, "....ridiculously low prices." Thus the move. Now, Nestle's buys tap water from the City of Sacramento and spring water from private sources for bottling. The sale of bottled water demonstrates, for all practical matters, that water is a commodity that can be privatized and sold.

Since Nestle doesn't divert the vast majority of their water directly from the river, they were apparently not required to prepare an EIR. Yet, they caused diversion of approximately 30 million gallons of water from the Sacramento River for bottling in 2010. Clearly, the bottling of this volume of water is not going to dry up the Sacramento. However, when considered during extreme drought conditions and in conjunction with all of the other ongoing diversions from the Sacramento River, it's one more over commitment of available water.

As with any operation of this type, there're side effects that may be worse than diversion. For example, the massive number of plastic bottles produced and petroleum products used in their manufacture (not to mention the BPA issue), the number of transport trips used to distribute the product and clean-up/recycling of the empty plastic bottles laying around or floating on some waterway. You might think the impact of all that should've been investigated.

Oh well,.... I don't really object to the sale of bottled water and Nestle' does a good job of marketing their product if their sales figures are any indication, but this situation is illustrative of the current state of diversions of water in this state. Our ground/surface water supplies are being subjected to "....death by a thousand cuts."

[SeanO]

Interesting, Darian.

30 million gallons is 'only' 92 acre-feet, kind of a drop in the bucket since Shasta Lake can hold 4.5 million acre-feet, but like you say it does all add up.

My county of Yolo is currently using well water for most of the towns. Problem is, subsurface water levels are dropping every year. This year the wells can't keep up with demand.

The county is currently building up infrastructure for taking Sac river water. I bet 'we' will be sucking much more that the Nestle plant per year. It's only gonna get worse.

Best,

[Darian]

Salmonid,.... Do you know if Yolo County has agreed to draw water from Conaway Ranch???

[Mark Kranhold]

Nestlé, well at least you will get your dose of fluoride in every bottle! I wish the city would stop adding it to the water..bad stuff! It even gets worse when you cook or boil it!

[SeanO]

Not familiar with that outfit, D. The water project will take liquid gold from the Sac river directly around the I-5 crossing. There is a staging area for the construction just upstream of the bridge.

Here is a blurb online. http://www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_2603...r-water-intake

I recycled the newsletter they sent out to us recently. It mentioned that Sac river water will flow to Woodland, Davis, and UCD.

Funny quote in the link is "a project to promote sustainability of the region's agricultural operations, improve water quality for the majority of Yolo County residents and increase protections for threatened and endangered fish." Seems like a mixed message especially for the fish.

Best,

Salmonid,.... Do you know if Yolo County has agreed to draw water from Conaway Ranch???

[Darian]

Yep,.... Certainly does seem that way. Same theme in the co-equal goals of the BDCP.... Must be something in the water. Flouride????

[Tony Buzolich]

If I remember right doesn't Resnick own Figi water? I read somewhere about how he has all but taken control of the country buying up land with spring water sources so as to develop "premium" bottled water.

A while back there was a science fiction movie called "Ice Pirates". Our world had run out of fresh water and we were forced to go to other planets to transport huge blocks of ice so we would have something to drink. Far fetched fiction but the idea is nothing new about how we all need water to survive and it's value becomes like gold.
Tony

[drdan]

A while back there was a science fiction movie called "Ice Pirates". Our world had run out of fresh water and we were forced to go to other planets to transport huge blocks of ice so we would have something to drink. Far fetched fiction but the idea is nothing new about how we all need water to survive and it's value becomes like gold.
Tony

Ice Pirates!!! That was such a bad movie that it is a classic! Watch out for space herpes!

[Darian]

That sure was a very funny movie. Right up there with Spaceballs....

Tony,.... Fiji water is a subsidiary of Roll International (Stuart and Linda Resnick). I read somewhere that the Fiji (the nation) was at odds with the Resnicks as they wanted a higher share of the proceeds from bottling water from their Artesian wells. At one point, Fiji was said to have cut the company off and was re-negotiating their agreements. I guess that went well for both....

[Darian]

Here's a link to Nestle's activities in SoCal on the Morongo Res. Much more volume pumped/bottled with predictable results on the water table:

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/...ater/12589267/

Secretive operation. Nestle's doesn't seem to want to have anyone know anything about their operations.