Starbucks water comes from drought-stricken California

Updated
Starbucks Water Comes from Drought-Stricken California
Starbucks Water Comes from Drought-Stricken California


Starbucks owned Ethos water gained success for it's promise to "provide children with access to clean water" donating 5 cents to the cause for every bottle sold. As it turns out, that water Starbucks sells comes from one of the worst hit areas in California's severe drought.

One place where the water is bottled in California is right around Merced County, which is suffering from what authorities call "exceptional drought conditions." Now, just to be clear, the bottled water plant in Merced County where Ethos water comes from is actually owned and operated by grocery store chain Safeway, but Starbucks is still being blamed.

Anner Lenzer with Mother Jones talks with a Starbucks spokesman about its use of scarce water resources in which he replies that Starbucks uses " a private spring source that is not used for municipal water for any communities."


People who live in the area are worried that the water could be coming from community supplies. However, in California, information about the well's location and pumping rig is private information. Making it difficult to pinpoint how much water is being used and from where.

In addition to Starbucks and Safeway, some other big names are using California's precious resources. Bottled water companies such as Dasani, Arrowhead and Aquafina all have plants in some of the driest parts of the state.

According to the International Bottled Water Association, to bottle 1 litter of water, it takes on average about 1.32 litters of water.

Click throught the photos below to see more on California's drought.



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