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The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has ordered BlueTriton Brands, the company formerly known as Nestlé that bottles and sells bottled water brand Arrowhead Water, to stop drawing water from the San Bernardino Mountains in California.
The decision by USFS supports a cease and desist made last year by the California Water Resources Control Board that stated the company did not have water rights for diverting and bottling water in the San Bernardino National Forest. According to the decision fact sheet, the company was ordered to stop operations at 10 of its 13 diversion points and was required to submit monthly reports for the remaining water being taken and bottled.
Now, USFS has denied BlueTriton’s application for a new permit and is requiring the company to stop its bottling operations in the San Bernardino Mountains. The company has been ordered to remove its diversion infrastructure, including a pipeline, from the area, the Los Angeles Times reported. BlueTriton Brands has sued to challenge the decision, according to a court document filed on August 6.
The decision comes following years of complaints against the company for diverting water and harming wildlife, KTLA reported. The California Water Resources Control Board noted that it had received many complaints about BlueTrition Brands’ “unreasonable use of water” and the impacts it could have in a drought-stricken state.
“It’s a huge victory after 10 years,” Amanda Frye, an activist from Redlands, California, told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m hoping that we can restore Strawberry Creek, have its springs flowing again, and get the habitat back.”
As District Ranger Michael Nobles explained in a letter to BlueTriton Brands about the permit denial, the company stated its operations were for bottled water, but up to 98% of the diverted water per month was going to the old Arrowhead Springs hotel, which the company sold in 2016 to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. The amount of water taken in recent months has also increased, Nobles said.
“This increase represents significantly more water than has ever been delivered previously,” Nobles wrote in a letter about the decision. “The hotel and conference facility on the property is not operating, and there is no explanation of where the millions of gallons of water per month are going.”
The area’s Strawberry Creek watershed has been approved for water diversions since 1929, the Los Angeles Times reported. BlueTriton Brands, formerly operating as Nestlé, had long operated in the area under an expired permit that was finally renewed in 2018 with a 5-year timeline.
Despite environmentalists’ complaints against its operations and the reasons outlined for permit rejection in a letter from the U.S. Forest Service, BlueTriton Brands said it “has not negatively affected the Strawberry Canyon environment” and that the permit denial had “no legal merit,” as the Los Angeles Times reported.
Activists are hopeful the decision will help improve the Strawberry Creek watershed and local environment.
“Our goal was to get that water back in the creek and protect the forest,” Frye said. “The proof will be when the pipes and all that infrastructure is taken out and it’s restored. But I think we’re nearing the end.”
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