Capital Wired

Keeps You Updated

Saturday, April 10, 2021
Log in
  • Headlines
  • Business
  • Health
  • Tech & Science
  • Sports
  • World
  • US
  • Latest News
    • How To Make Your Own Home-Brewed Morphine
    • Using Mouthwash Too Often Puts You at Risk of Obesity and Diabetes
    • Walmart to Solve its Supply Chain Issues and Further Cut Down on Costs
    • The World’s Most Expensive Christmas Decorations
    • Netflix Hopes to Balance Data Limit With Great Video Quality
    • Joji Morishita says Japan Will Resume Whaling
    • The Most Beloved Plastic Surgeries Among Americans
    • Skype for Web Allows Non-Users to Take Part In Its Online Chats

Pages

  • About Capital Wired
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Reprint & Licensing
  • Staff
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • Here’s Why Your Brain Keeps Worrying about Everything June 29, 2018
  • Don’t Throw That Sunscreen after Summer Is Up June 29, 2018
  • Analysts: Currency War between U.S. and China Might Be Looming June 28, 2018
  • Starbucks Rival The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Opening 100 Shops June 27, 2018
  • Study Finds We Are Alone in the Universe June 26, 2018
  • Restaurant Owner Not Sorry for Booting Sarah Sanders June 26, 2018
  • Beware of the Hidden Salt in Your Food! June 25, 2018

Starbucks Sells California’s Spring Water despite Historic Drought

May 1, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow

Starbucks Sells California’s Spring Water despite Historic Drought

Although Starbucks is committed to donate a small percent of the price of any bottled water it sells to bringing potable water to third world communities, the company’s bottling plant in California uses spring water from one of the areas most affected by the drought. Moreover, the coffee giant gets the water free of charge because in the Golden State, bottling companies do not pay for the groundwater they captate.

Ethos Water, Starbuck’s bottling plant, is located in Merced County, Calif., which is currently one of the many regions affected by “exceptional drought” conditions, according to an official panel. Californians living there have to restrict their water use for their household needs on a daily basis, while many farms in the region see their crops go dry.

Ethos Water, which was founded 13 years ago, was purchased by Starbucks in 2005. Ever since, Starbucks promised that it would donate 5 cents to the Ethos Water Fund for every bottle it would sell . The company announced in 2008 that their Ethos Water customers were not only quenching their thirst, but they were doing it for other individuals, as well. In the meantime, the fund received more than $12.3 million.

Earlier last month, Merced people complained that a water bottling plant run by Safeway was bottling and selling their precious groundwater out to communities that didn’t had a severe drought problem. The bottler also supplies Starbucks with its Ethos water. Moreover, no one really knows how much water the company consumes because the data is confidential.

But Starbucks gets its spring water from a spring in Baxter, which is located north of Merced in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Baxter also struggles with out-of-the-ordinary drought conditions. Older locals even told reporters that they had never experienced a similar drought before.

A Starbucks spokesperson recently disclosed that his company’s California bottling plants use only springs which are not used by any communities. But geologists explain that Californians are still threatened by bottling plants even if they capture remote springs because water cannot reach downstream users anymore.

Additionally, California laws do not improve the situation either. Although water bottlers have to monitor the health of the water they use and the recharge rate of the springs, records on wells are secret, while anyone interested in a review requires permission from owners.

Besides the Baxter spring water it sells, Starbucks also commercializes bottled water from the Merced city area. According to the International Bottled Water Association, a bottler needs more than 1.30 liters to produce a single liter of bottled water. Other experts claim that the figures may be even more worrisome if we take into account all packaging involved.

Recently, Merced County regulators passed a bill that would restrict even more the ground water use, but we do not yet know whether the new rules would impact Starbucks’ business.

But Californians, who are already buying bottled water to survive, do not plan to tolerate any longer the bottling plants that are making profit despite long-term consequences. Several protests are already scheduled to occur outside Nestlé’s bottling plant in Sacramento.

Image Source: Yukon News

Email, RSS Follow

Deborah Nielsen

Deborah Nielsen never thought she could be a journalist and a good one, we might add. Having a strong passion for music, she started singing at an early age, but it was only in college that she formed her first band. Her music education won her a job as a news reporter at the local radio station as well as the chance of meeting her favorite artists. In 2013, Deborah took things forward by starting her own blog and contributing to various news related websites. Currently, she covers a broad area of subjects and topics from various fields.

Filed Under: Business

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Recent Articles

dc logo on black galaxy background

Ava DuVernay to Direct DC’s New Gods Adaptation

March 16, 2018 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

leonardo davinci's signature in black

Is DaVinci’s Record Breaking Painting Authentic?

November 20, 2017 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

stephen hawking

Stephen Hawking Makes Gloomy Prediction For Earth In A 100 Years

May 7, 2017 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

"Dwayne Johnson not dead"

Dwayne Johnson Died this Week or Not

January 19, 2016 By Jason Leathers 3 Comments

There Are At Least Three More Seasons of Game of Thrones To Go

July 31, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Homelessness Soars in L.A., Officials Pledge to House Everybody by 2016

May 12, 2015 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

FBI Releases National Report on Slain Police Officers, Figures are Alarming

May 12, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

New York Nuclear Plant Partially Shut Down due to Hudson Oil Slick

May 11, 2015 By Jason Leathers 2 Comments

Obama Draws Heat from Democrats over Asia Trade Deal

May 9, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Florida Governor Changes Stance on Obamacare Once More, Budget on Hold

May 9, 2015 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

Secret Service to add an Extra Layer of Spikes to White House Fence

May 8, 2015 By Chen Lai Leave a Comment

Police Arrested Suspect in death of Student who tried to Sell Car on Craigslist

May 8, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen 1 Comment

AccuWeather.com: 2015 Atlantic Tropical Storm Season is Officially Open

May 7, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

Illinois Student Found Dead after Trying to Sell his Car on Craigslist

May 7, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen 2 Comments

Related Articles

  • The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf coffee shop

    Starbucks Rival The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Opening 100 Shops

    Jun 27, 2018
  • People dating online

    Tinder’s Parent Company Buying Sizable Stake in Tinder Rival

    Jun 21, 2018
  • Walmart store

    Arizona Man’s Fake Returns Cost Walmart $1.3M

    Jun 18, 2018
  • Google office in Spain

    Hispanic and Black Workers More Likely to Leave Google

    Jun 15, 2018
  • Amazon headquarters

    Seattle Backpedaling on ‘Head Tax’ amid Amazon Pressure

    Jun 12, 2018
  • North Korea lead Kim Jong-un

    North Korea Could Turn to Cryptocurrencies to Fend Off Sanctions

    Jun 6, 2018
  • Seattle skyline

    Seattle Passes Controversial Head Tax on Companies Making 20M/Year

    May 17, 2018
  • Call blocker

    FCC Hands Out Its Biggest Robocalling Fine to Date

    May 11, 2018
  • French flag blowing in the wind.

    California Man Fighting France over ‘France.com’ Domain

    Apr 30, 2018
  • Subway restaurant

    Subway Shutting Down 500 More Locations in the U.S.

    Apr 26, 2018

Categories

  • Business
  • Headlines
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 capitalwired.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Contact