Ian James

The Desert Sun

The U.S. Forest Service on Friday proposed to issue a new permit to Nestle that would allow the bottled water producer to keep piping water out of the San Bernardino National Forest.

The five-year permit would allow Nestle to operate its wells and pipelines in the mountains near San Bernardino and would require the company to conduct studies on the water supplies and habitats in the area.

The proposal is part of a process under the National Environmental Policy Act that also involves a 45-day period for receiving public comments and an environmental analysis that will be carried out by a team the agency has formed for the review.

“Once we receive all those comments, then we do an environmental analysis,” said John Heil, a Forest Service press officer. “We take the public comments into account as we do the environmental analysis.”

After that review, he said, the Forest Service will reach a decision on whether to issue the permit.

The Forest Service announced the proposal one year after a Desert Sun investigation revealed Nestle has been drawing water from the national forest using a permit that lists 1988 as the expiration date. Nestle Waters North America bottles water from the forest as Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water.

Read the investigation: Bottling water without scrutiny

Nestle’s use of water from the national forest has stirred controversy, especially during California’s severe drought. Three environmental groups sued the Forest Service in October, arguing that the agency has violated the law by letting the company pipe out millions of gallons without a valid permit, and that the taking of water threatens sensitive habitat along Strawberry Creek near San Bernardino.

The Forest Service said in December that officials had started assessing the renewal of the 1978 permit and had assigned a team for the environmental analysis.

Under the proposal released Friday, the agency said Nestle “will be required to conduct hydrologic and riparian studies to better understand the relationship between water extraction, surface flows, and riparian habitat."

The Forest Service said initial studies provided by the company “suggest that water extraction is reducing surface flow in Strawberry Creek.”

“The effect of this flow reduction has not been thoroughly studied,” the agency said in the proposal. It said the company will be required to study comparison sites in other areas nearby “to determine what conditions would exist in Strawberry Creek without water extraction.”

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Steve Loe, a retired Forest Service biologist, has been demanding that Nestle stop using water from the forest during the drought. He said he’s glad the Forest Service is finally accepting public comments and moving ahead with the process, but he said a one-year permit – with conditions including monitoring and environmental studies – would make more sense than a five-year permit.

Loe said he’s concerned the Forest Service hasn’t already halted the taking of water during the drought. He called it an emergency situation and said he’s worried that as water continues to be piped out for bottling, it could dry up portions of the creek in the summer and harm the wildlife that depend on it.

Loe said after Friday’s announcement that he hopes Nestle will consider voluntarily stopping its use of water from the forest.

“What is that little stream to them in the big scheme of their world? Why can’t they take care of our stream during the worst drought ever?” Loe said. “They should stop and then start doing the studies.”

“We need to know: What is the natural water situation in this stream?” Loe said. “You can’t keep taking all the groundwater you can take and hope to understand the stream. You’ve got to stop taking the groundwater first.”

Review of Nestle water permit neglected for decades

The water that Nestle collects from wells on the mountainside flows through separate pipes before coming together in the single pipeline that runs along Strawberry Creek. The water is stored in a tank and hauled in tanker trucks to a plant in Ontario, where it is bottled.

The Forest Service does not collect fees for the water. It has been charging Nestle an annual permit fee of $524.

The Forest Service has told Nestle that until it decides on the company’s permit renewal application, the current permit remains in effect. Nestle’s permit was issued to predecessor Arrowhead Puritas Waters, Inc., in 1978 for the purpose of maintaining more than four miles of water pipelines and other infrastructure in the national forest.

Nestle, based in Vevey, Switzerland, is the world's largest food and beverage company, and Nestle Waters North America runs five bottling plants in California. The company also uses water from a desert spring in Millard Canyon in Cabazon, where the company runs one of its bottling plants on the reservation of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

Little oversight as Nestle taps Morongo reservation water

Nestle has said that its operation in the San Bernardino National Forest isn't causing any harm and that the company monitors the environment at the springs it uses.

Nestle Waters North America said in a statement that it “is pleased the reissuance process is moving forward.”

The company said it has been cooperating with the Forest Service’s requests for documents and information.

“NWNA agrees with the USFS it is important to manage the usage of water resources to help protect the environment, especially during times of drought,” the company said. It said Arrowhead brand bottled water “has been sustainably sourced from the Arrowhead Springs for more than 121 years, and NWNA remains dedicated to environmental stewardship.”

The Forest Service said the infrastructure at Arrowhead Springs has been authorized under various permits since 1929. The proposed permit would allow the company to keep using 2 water collection tunnels, 10 horizontal wells, water pipelines and other infrastructure.

Under a proposed management plan, extraction of groundwater from wells and diversions of surface water would only be permitted “when it is demonstrated by the user, and/or agreed to by the Forest Service, that the water extracted is excess to the current and reasonably foreseeable future needs of forest resources.”

The Forest Service will accept comments on the proposal from the public until May 2. The agency also plans to host an “open house” to discuss the matter with the public on April 14 in San Bernardino.

Ian James writes about water and the environment for The Desert Sun. Email: ian.james@desertsun.com Twitter: @TDSIanJames.

Hundreds of water permits expired in national forests