Nestle CEO Would 'Increase' Water Extraction Despite Drought

The CEO of Nestle Waters Tim Brown said this week he would like to “increase” bottling water in California, a region experts say is facing its worst drought crisis in over 1,200 years.

Nestle has been under severe public scrutiny in recent weeks for continuing its exploitation of water resources with expired permits while neglecting the drought crisis. A Courage Campaign petition demanding Nestle to end water bottling in southern California now has over 135,000 signatories, while activists have resorted to direct action by blocking a Nestle plant in Sacramento with plastic pitchforks.

“While individuals are being forced to reduce their water usage, Nestle is bottling the scarce resource straight from the heart of California’s drought and selling it for profit,” the petition states. “California is facing record drought conditions, it is unconscionable that Nestle would continue to bottle the state’s precious water, export it, and sell it for profit.”

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Despite the mass outcry, Nestle CEO Tim Brown said in an interview with Southern California Public Radio it would not stop bottling water. “Absolutely not. In fact, if I could increase it, I would,” Brown said.

For Brown, the responsibility does not lie with the company itself, which admitted to wasting 30 percent of the 700 million gallons of the water it extracts annually, but with the consumer.

“If I stop bottling water tomorrow, people would buy another brand of bottled water. It’s driven by consumer demand, it’s driven by an on-the-go society that needs to hydrate,” Brown told the Southern Californian radio. 

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