Starbucks stops sourcing water from California amid drought
Digital Reporter
Monday, May 11, 2015, 3:57 PM - A week after a Mother Jones report showed Starbucks was sourcing a portion of its Ethos Water from drought-stricken California, the company has announced it will move production to a Pennsylvania supplier.
The supplier move will commence in May and continue over the next six months.
Founded in 2002 in southern California, Ethos Water donates 5 cents of every purchase to a water fund.
"Ethos® Water was created to help raise awareness ... and provide children with access to clean water," it says on the Starbucks website.
"So far more than $6 million has been granted to help support water, sanitation and hygiene education programs in water-stressed countries – benefiting more than 420,000 people around the world."
The recent report by Mother Jones sparked outrage from concerned citizens when it was revealed that a portion of Ethos Water was being processed by a plant in Northern California and collected from a local private spring. These areas are currently experiencing 'exceptional drought' conditions.
The situation is so bad that California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered officials to impose mandatory state-wide water restrictions in April for the first time in history.
RELATED: NASA reveals California only has one year of water left
Brown made the announcement earlier this year as state officials conducted the winter's final manual survey of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and found that the season's snowfall will do little to fix the drought.
NESTLÉ ALSO UNDER FIRE
According to the Sacramento Bee, Nestlé Waters North America has also received criticism for sourcing its water from California's Placer, El Dorado, Tuolumne and Napa counties.
Nestlé spokesperson Jane Lazgin told the publication the company's water usage accounts for "less than two-thousandths of 1 percent of the city’s total annual water usage."
“Part of our management of water is being as efficient as possible in plant operations,” Lazgin told the Bee.
“We pretty much bottle every bit of water that we touch.”
Lazgin added that all consumer goods require water to manufacture, but bottled water requires less water to process than most goods.
Sources: Mother Jones | Ethos Water | Sacramento Bee | Reuters
