Report: Starbucks water from drought-stricken California

Monday, May 4, 2015, 5:34 PM - A recent report by Mother Jones suggests that Starbucks' Ethos water -- a brand that's committed to raising awareness about the lack of clean drinking water in the developing world  -- is collecting some of its product from drought-ravaged California.

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."

But a new report by Mother Jones has sparked outrage from concerned citizens after it was revealed that some of the water is processed by a plant in Northern California after it's collected from a local private spring.

The area is 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 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.

It's not clear how how much water Ethos is taking from California.

A Starbucks spokesperson told Mother Jones the water source is privately-owned and "not used for municipal water for any communities."

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.