Crystal Geyser to tap Siskiyou County (Calif.) groundwater

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

A private water bottling company will soon be sucking up thousands of gallons a day from an aquifer that feeds the Sacramento River, the primary source of drinking water for millions of thirsty Californians struggling to cope with a four-year drought.

The plan by Crystal Geyser Water Co. to sink a tap this fall into Big Springs, which burbles out through lava tubes at the base of Mount Shasta, is allowed because the State Water Resources Control Board considers it groundwater, and California regulations monitoring groundwater are years from implementation.

The Calistoga purveyor of sparkling mineral water and juice is not required to do an environmental impact report or obtain a permit from the state to bottle and sell a resource that is in such short supply that California farmers are letting crops go fallow and water districts are developing plans to subject their customers to rationing.

... The move has infuriated environmentalists, American Indian tribes and many of the 3,394 residents of the city of Mount Shasta, who can hardly believe that a company is being allowed to bottle the same water that the rest of the state is under orders to conserve. They fear the bottling operation, one of 108 in California, could drain wells dry and deplete the aquifer, which fills Siskiyou County rivers and streams and feeds the headwaters of the Sacramento.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php

[jwirr]

1. At the very least this water should not be sold out of state. Anyone know what label they sell their

bottled water under?

[OregonBlue]

4. Crystal Geyser is the brand. Actually it's very good water which I buy when I'm in California since

the water in the cities is so bad it's undrinkable. Good water but bad policy. We should all write to them.

[Buzz Clik]

9. If you are drinking the bottled water, you are part of the problem.

City tap water is most certainly drinkable.

[OregonBlue]

10. Not true. I have my own well and my water is amazing but when I go to California, I do buy gallons

of water for drinking and making coffee, tea, etc. Especially in LA. The water is horrid. Even when it's cold it's horrid and it make disgusting coffee and tea. It may be safe to drink but not good to drink. It's a few gallons a year so I'm not gonna beat myself up over it.

[Xithras]

12. A lot of tap water in California is nasty.

I grew up in Modesto, where the tap water contains everything from arsenic and uranium to agricultural pesticides and herbicides. And that's if you're lucky enough to have city water pulled from wells. Most of their wells BARELY meet the EPA's maximum pollution limits. Residents in parts of the city that get their drinking water from surface water get to worry about mercury contamination as well, because all of the rivers in the northern San Joaquin valley are contaminated by old mine waste. I won't even get into how SOL you are if you aren't into drinking the huge amounts of chlorine they have to dump into it in order to make it palatable.

My house had a whole-house filtration system. Most people can't afford that kind of thing. They drink bottled water if they know what's good for them.

The SF Bay Area has great water. The rest of the state doesn't.

[Buzz Clik]

13. No. Tap water is perfectly safe.

Most bottled water is tap water.

[jwirr]

15. How sure of that are you. My daughters disability most likely was the result of polluted well water.

If the city water has all the chemicals that the other poster is talking about it is not safe. Sure it will not kill you on the spot but it is not doing you any good in the long run either.

[Buzz Clik]

16. City water is tested endlessly. Week after week.

It's tightly regulated.

[jwirr]

17. Okay.

[Xolodno]

18. Not quite.....

The State Agencies test the water endlessly (think supplier), the City Agencies (think distributor)....depends on the city and how they vary from the state minimums..if at all.

Also, its often tested at the source....not at delivery (faucet). Given that most delivery systems are over half a century old...yeah...its going to taste nasty. The water that supplies LA at the source (Sierra Mountains) is awesome...time it gets to a faucet in East LA....er...no thanks. Sure its "safe"...doesn't mean its "drinkable". Sort of like hiking and running out of water and foraging from a natural source, drop some tablets and its safe to drink...but that shit tastes nasty. But if you have a water purifier (which I do)...safe and tastes good.

Another example, the water stores that exist use tap water....then filter it. Sure tap water is safe, but doesn't mean people can stomach it.

[forest444]

19. Given these circumstances, yes!

While it's true that Southern California's tap water is heavy and over-chlorinated, a good counter-top filter should suffice in most cases. Brita also makes a very good faucet filter, for those on a budget.

[Brother Buzz]

5. Crystal Geyser is a recognized label on the west coast

[shanti]

14. crystal geyser

is a japanese-owned company, fyi. And they DO send some of it back to japan.

[mindwalker_i]

2. So we should all conserve water, not water our lawns

because there's this big-ass drought. But that doesn't apply to big business. This is why I can't get very mad at people who continue to water their lawns.

[oldandhappy]

3. Just sent an email to Gov. Jerry Brown

Please join me. Tell the gov this is not OK. Thank you.

[Sunlei]

6. the state shouldn't give them a wholesale price, pay state double retail or use desalted seawater.

[Buzz Clik]

7. Somebody gave them the license to do so...

… and a whole lot of stupid somebodies are drinking that bottled water instead of water from the tap.

[handmade34]

8. marketing had created irrational demand for bottled water

time to end this!

http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/Take_Back_the_Tap_Factsheet_2013.pdf#_ga=1.62256106.759085877.1423182253

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled/bottled-water-bad-for-people-and-the-environment/

https://www.banthebottle.net/take-action/reasons-to-choose-tap-water-over-bottled/

•Making bottles to meet America’s demand for bottled water uses more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year1. And that’s not even including the oil used for transportation.
•The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes2.
•Last year, the average American used 167 disposable water bottles, but only recycled 38.3
•Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year. However, the U.S.’s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent, which means 38 billion water bottles – more than $1 billion worth of plastic – are wasted each year3.
•The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400.
•Antimony, which is found in PET plastic bottles, in small doses can cause dizziness and depression; in larger doses it can cause nausea, vomiting and death.8

[dbackjon]

11. California rules on water 100 years behind the time

If Jerry Brown was serious about water usage, he'd call a special session of the legislature, and not let them leave until they passed comprehensive water reform.