FRESNO (KMJ) — Protestors have been making their voices heard outside two Nestle Water bottling plants – to get the international company to shut down their production lines in California. But Nestle themselves say they’re not going anywhere.
“It’s the fourth year of a severe drought”, says Tim Molina with protest organizer ‘Courage Campaign’. “While close to two million people throughout California are without access to clean drinking water, corporations like Nestle kind of have free reign to bottling up what little water we have left”.
The protests took place outside the plants in both Los Angeles and Sacramento Wednesday morning – in the hope of encouraging the company to help conserve the water that’s left.
“Follow the lead of Starbucks”, appeals Molina, “who just moved operations out of California because of the drought. We’d like Nestle to follow that example”.
But Nestle themselves say they have no plans to follow that example.
“Starbucks is a very good company and I’m sure they had to make the decision that’s right for them”, says Nestle Water’s Jane Lazgin.
Of the water they bottle here, she says at least 80% of it stays inside California. She adds that there would be a distinct environmental impact if they were to truck water in across state lines.
“The water that we’re providing comes from sustainable springs and we are taking very important water conservation measures”. “Those water conservation methods are built largely around recovering and reusing it in our bottling process. It’s used for cooling equipment, used for cleaning in the plant, and water re-used can be used in sinks and things like that”.
But to the protestor’s wish that Nestle halt their operations in California – the company remain defiant. “We have every plan to stay open and operate in California to provide bottled water products”.
