[Corp. Watch] Amidst a drought, corporations make millions selling free public water

[Corporation Watch]

Water Wars

  By Cameron Scott

(SF Chronicle, March 6) -- Thankfully, this rainy February pulled  
California away from the brink of the worst drought in the state's  
history. But water in our fair state remains a scarce and precious  
resource.

	Yet major multinational corporations such as Nestle are allowed to  
siphon it up for free -- only to sell it back to Californians and  
others in energy-guzzling plastic bottles likely to end up in  
landfills or floating off our lovely coastlines.

	Profit margin: Up to 10,000 percent.

	Bottled water is increasingly controversial for these reasons. And  
while you may not believe that buying the occasional Dasani or  
Aquafina is a Class A environmental felony, it would certainly make  
sense to have companies pay the state something for the millions of  
gallons of water they remove from the public's groundwater supply.

	The controversial Nestle plant in McCloud, California, has a permit  
allowing it to suck up as much water as 614 typical American families.  
(Apparently, because of the controversy surrounding Nestle's deal with  
the town of McCloud, the company hasn't actually started pumping water  
there.)

	Last fall, California state Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D-San  
Fernando) introduced a bill that would have required companies to  
provide the state with detailed information on where they get their  
water. It was among the lump of bills vetoed by Governor Arnold  
Schwarzenegger in the waning hours of the session.

	Florida is taking it a step further, proposing to tax bottled water  
companies 6 cents a gallon for the water they take -- a potential $56- 
million windfall for the state's troubled coffers. (Only Michigan and  
Vermont currently impose similar taxes.)

	Nestle is steaming mad, claiming that bottled water is a necessity in  
a natural disaster (in fact, less than 1 percent of the 102,000  
bottles filled every hour at the company's Florida plant are used for  
natural disaster relief). The company can't claim that the tax would  
put it out of business, because it would barely put a dent in its  
massive profits.

	With California facing dire water problems and a broken state budget,  
should our state follow suit?