Bad idea.

A week ago, people totally flipped out upon learning that Starbucks’s Ethos Water (mission: “support water, sanitation, and hygiene education programs in water-stressed countries”) is bottled in America’s new desert state, California. Message conveyed, apparently, because Starbucks has now done an about-face with a statement describing a new plan to get the heck out, ASAP.

By November, the statement pledges, no more Ethos bottles will come from the California facility. To pick up the slack, Ethos will hand that share to its East Coast supplier in Pennsylvania. It’s also “simultaneously exploring alternatives” for both a new water source and a new bottler back on the West Coast. Whatever the case, between the California locals cleaning dishes with air and their daily showers in jeopardy, it’s probably better to head toward middle America.

[Starbucks Newsroom]