Nestlé accused of over-drawing water from California's San Bernardino National Forest

It's a serious charge: Nestlé has been accused of taking millions of gallons of water more than it has right to from San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California.

The Swiss company, which sells Arrowhead bottled water sourced from Arrowhead Springs in the San Bernardino mountains, has been accused by the State Water Resources Control Board of lacking the right permit to withdraw so much water from the national forest.

As reported first by The Desert Sun, the Board, which is one of six branches of the California Environmental Protection Agency, conducted a 20-month investigation after they received several water rights complaints and an online petition against Nestlé starting in April 2015. 

The Board has now issued a 37-page report which alleges that Nestlé is taking a portion of water it doesn't have the right to:

The complaint allegations included diversion of water without a valid basis of right, unreasonable use of water, injury to public trust resources, and incorrect or missing reporting, all regarding Nestlé’s diversion of water from springs at the headwaters of Strawberry Creek in the San Bernardino National Forest for bottling under the Arrowhead label.

Nestlé reported drawing approximately 32 million gallons of water from Arrowhead Springs in 2016. According to the Board's report, this puts Nestlé way over its licensed quota. The Board states that "current operations do not appear to be supported by rights to the diversion or use of water exceeding 26 acre-fee per annum."

That 26 acre-fee per annum equates to an 8.5 million gallon annual cap, according to TDS, so they're 23.5 million gallons over, if the report is accurate.

The Board says Nestlé needs to limit this diversion "unless it has evidence of valid water rights to water within the permitting authority of the State Water Board."

Nestlé said in a statement given to the LA Times that they would have liked to see the report first, and that they will review it thoroughly.

“We are disappointed by the fact that we have just received a copy of the report from the State Water Resources Control Board and that others appear to have received it much sooner."

"Once we have had an opportunity to review the report thoroughly, we will be in a position to respond.”

Mashable has reached out to Nestlé for comment.

UPDATE: Dec. 27, 2017, 4:40 p.m. AEDT

Nestlé Waters North America has responded to the Board's report.

“We are pleased that the report released by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) validates Nestlé Waters’ chain of title and reaffirms that we hold valid, pre-1914 surface water rights and groundwater rights to a significant amount of the water in Strawberry Canyon.

"We are pleased that they have confirmed we have a right to these “authorized diversions,” and we will continue to operate lawfully according to these existing rights and will comply fully with California law.  We look forward to cooperating with the SWRCB during the review process and to providing the necessary documents to supplement the SWRCB’s report, including producing information requested from over a century ago, to the extent that it is available.  "Arrowhead Brand Mountain Spring Water has been sustainably sourced from the springs in what is now the San Bernardino National Forest for more than 120 years.

"We take our responsibility as a California water steward seriously, and our successful operations for more than a century point to our commitment to long-term sustainability.”