State orders Arrowhead water brand to stop taking water from San Bernardino National Forest

BlueTriton Brands will have to significantly curtail the amount of water it takes out of San Bernardino National Forest to sell as bottled water under the Arrowhead brand, according to a cease and desist order unanimously approved by the State Water Board on Tuesday.

The decision comes nearly a decade after activists first began questioning whether BlueTriton Brands — formerly known as Nestlé Waters North America — holds valid rights to the water it has diverted from San Bernardino National Forest for the past century.

A 2015 Desert Sun investigation found that the U.S. Forest Service was allowing Nestlé to pipe water from the national forest using a permit with a 1988 expiration date, and with no review of the environmental impacts during the state’s last severe drought. The controversy surrounding Nestlé — and now BlueTriton — soon expanded from the expired permit for pipelines and other infrastructure to the question of whether BlueTriton holds valid water rights for the millions of gallons of water that go through this infrastructure each year.

Following the Desert Sun investigation, the State Water Board received several complaints regarding Nestle’s operations that questioned whether the company had valid water rights for the amount it was taking from the national forest, prompting the state agency to launch an investigation into the company’s water rights claims.

The State Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Water Rights first issued a cease-and-desist order in April 2021, which told Nestlé to stop taking much of the millions of gallons of water it pipes out of Strawberry Canyon in San Bernardino National Forest.

BlueTriton collects water from a series of 10 boreholes and three water tunnels in the Strawberry Canyon area. The initial draft cease-and-desist order would have required Nestlé to immediately cease all diversions greater than 7.26 acre-feet per year of water, or approximately 2.3 million gallons, from all three tunnels and seven of the boreholes.

The company has said it collected an average of 192 acre-feet per year since 1947, according to a preliminary response the company sent to state investigators in 2018.

BlueTriton Brands took over Nestlé's North American bottled water operations in April 2021, and requested a hearing on the draft order, sending it to the State Water Board’s newly formed Administrative Hearings Office. After a lengthy hearing process earlier this year, Presiding Hearing Officer Alan Lily issued a proposed order concluding that BlueTriton “does not have any water rights that authorize these diversions” from these three tunnels and seven boreholes.

The cease-and-desist order requires BlueTriton to cease water diversions for its water-bottling operations from these 10 of its 13 diversion points. BlueTriton will still be allowed to divert water from these sources for deliveries to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians for use on San Manuel’s Arrowhead Springs Hotel property.

The State Water Board unanimously approved the order on Tuesday.

The order does not require BlueTriton to cease diversions from the other three boreholes, but the company will be required to maintain meters and records and provide monthly reports to the state on the amount of water it diverts.

Staff with the State Water Board’s prosecution team emphasized the role of citizen participation in bringing the water rights issue to light.

“This enforcement action illustrates the power of public participation, the impacts of unauthorized diversion and the need for accountability,” said lead prosecutor Jule Rizzardo. “I have witnessed the profound impact of unauthorized diversions on California communities and ecosystems, and this is the most important case that I've worked on in my 25-year career as a professional engineer and professional hydrologist. This case demonstrates the importance of public participation in our water rights process.”

In an emailed statement to The Desert Sun, a spokesperson for BlueTriton said that it’s “disappointed” in the State Water Board’s decision to approve the cease and desist order.

“BTB will vigorously defend our water rights through the available legal process. BTB continues to comply with all state and federal laws as they apply to our water rights in California. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the local communities near our operations,” said the statement.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: State orders Arrowhead brand to stop taking water from San Bernardino National Forest