Last weekend, Sprouts Farmers Market was the focus of a “national day of action” to stop selling Nestle Arrowhead Springs bottled water.
Members of the Courage Campaign Institute and Story of Stuff Project delivered petitions to Sprouts stores in several cities, asking the chain to stop selling the water, which they say is being illegally pumped from the San Bernardino National Forest.
A Sprouts representative told Supermarket News that “Nestle Waters has assured us the allegations being made are false. We will continue to monitor the situation and, as always, will listen to our customers’ feedback.”
“Our natural resource managers, engineers and scientists regularly and consistently monitor our spring sources for long-term sustainability, and we only bottle water that naturally flows to the surface, which ensures that our water use is not more than is naturally sustainable,” a spokesman for Nestle Waters told Supermarket News. “We take seriously our responsibility to be a good water and environmental steward, and we are aware of the call for action at Sprouts. We welcome and encourage open dialogue with the communities we serve and with all other interested stakeholders.”
However, Eddie Kurtz, executive director of the Courage Campaign Institute, disagrees. “There’s nothing sustainable about helping Nestle profit off of illegally and irresponsibly sourced public water in drought-stricken California,” he says. “Sprouts must live up to its values of sustainable retailing and stop selling [the product].”
