The Effects of Nestle Bottling Co.'s on Florida Springs

Noah Davis, Taylor Garrett. Christian O'Shea

Nestle is an enormous food and beverage company with over 2000 brands. The company began in 1866 with the creation of a baby cereal and grew from there. Now, Nestle sells in 186 countries. Nestle produces the most bottled water in the world. Three Nestle water bottle brands currently source their water from Florida. One of the brands that Nestle has created is Zephyrhills Bottled Water. Zephyrhills is a city in Pasco County, Florida that is surrounded by beautiful springs. Zephyrhills Bottling Co. started to pump water from Florida springs in 1964, over 50 years ago, but how much water is safe to take without affecting the surrounding communities and ecosystems?

Zephyrhills Bottling Co. currently pumps from 5 springs in Florida which are pinned with a water symbol on the map to the right: Cypress Springs in the Florida panhandle, White Spring in North Florida, Blue Spring in Eastern Florida, the Spring of Life near Orlando, and Crystal Springs in Central Florida. Ginnie Springs near Gainesville is also pinned on the map to the right because Nestle is working on a partnership with Seven Springs Co. to tap Ginnie's natural spring water too. There are 3 Nestle Waters North America (NWNA) plant facilities in Florida, labeled with green pins on the map. They are located in High Springs, Madison County, and Zephyrhills.

Nestle buys the water for their High Springs facility from Seven Springs Co. who was granted a permit to pump up to a million gallons of water from Ginnie Springs’ aquifer per day and up to 400 million gallons a year. Although their old permit allowed for more pumping, Seven Springs was only pumping about 265,000 gallons a day, but Nestle is expanding. This means that Nestle will soon be almost quadrupling the amount of water being taken from Florida’s Ginnie Springs. Nestle also pumps over 3 million gallons of water per day from the other 5 springs. Nestle even holds a permit that only cost them $500 to pump 395,000 gallons a day from Cypress Spring.

Nestle has faced criticism since the very beginning for being unethical. The baby formula they produced was aggressively forced on women in underdeveloped countries. These women were often uneducated and did not know that the polluted water in their countries must be boiled before mixing with the baby formula. Nestle knew this and still printed sterilization instructions in foreign languages that these women could not understand. Not only that, but they insinuated that the formula is as nutritious as breastmilk and should be used after only 6 months of age. Nestle would bring the formula into hospitals for free, weaning the children off breast milk, but when the families left the hospital, they had to keep paying for the formula, instead of using their own “free” breastmilk. This unethical marketing and selling of formula caused issues with malnutrition and illness, and it is only the first example of Nestle’s moral compass.

Nestle does not have a good history with human rights, especially when it comes to free water for all. Nestle’s Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe once said, "There are two different opinions on the matter [or water]. The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution.” Nestle believes that free water for all as a right is “extreme”. The company has retracted this statement, but they continue to drain Florida of its natural source of water.

Many people do not support the permit provided to Nestle and Seven Springs for continued, excessive pumping from Ginnie Springs. Michael Roth, President of the Santa Fe River Group, has determined that pumping must decrease by at least 30 % to stop environmental degradation of the springs’ ecosystems. Ginnie Springs’ flow has decreased by 40% since 2001 due to over pumping and lack of rain. Blue Spring in Madison County has seen significant decrease in flow as well. Meanwhile, Florida is not even being monetarily compensated for the tapping of its natural resources. The permit granted to Seven Springs only cost them $115.

Florida Springs are an essential resource to Floridians for drinking water, tourism, canoeing, tubing, and much more. Nestle is stripping Florida of this resource and reselling it back to the community in plastic containers that pollute the same waterways that they rely on. Even worse, the plastic bottles are only single-use and only about 9% of all plastic gets recycled. Therefore, the bottling and reselling of water is a direct cause of plastic pollution. Freshwater sources are becoming more scarce each year, and companies such as Nestle are making millions of dollars every day by exploiting the Florida Springs. Almost 9,000 people commented on the new permit plan to water management, most of them pleading for denial. Florida’s citizens are upset, and the springs are in need of protection. It is estimated that Floridians alone will need 20% more freshwater in the next 20 years to appease the population, and by 2035, 1.4 billion gallons of fresh water will be used daily in Florida.

Florida is home to a variety of endangered and threatened species including turtles and the infamous manatee. Critical habitats are areas in which plants and animal species listed as endangered or threatened rely on to survive. Most of the critical habitats in Florida are along the springs and coast, which can be seen in the map to the right, so Nestle is directly impacting those areas. As over pumping of Florida’s aquifers continues, river flow slows. Stagnant water can cause salinization from intrusion of saltwater systems. This is bad for all freshwater species that call the springs their home. Over pumping also leads to increased erosion. The degradation of the springs over time is already visible. Runoff from agriculture and factories such as the Nestle Waters North America plants causes excess nitrogen levels in the springs which may lead to overgrowth of algae, throwing the springs’ ecosystems out of balance. Overgrowth of algae has proven to cause health issues in surrounding communities and death of marine life. An example of this is the dreaded, yearly Red Tide that occurs along Florida’s coast. 

Manatees come to Florida’s Springs for warmth during the winter, and swimming with Manatees is a huge tourism activity that brings money into the state. The map to the right shows the spatial distribution of manatees in Florida. Nestle Waters North America's bottling plants are shown here as well.

The greatest threat to this majestic species is the loss of natural habitat. In just the first 4 months of 2021, more than 700 manatees died. This year is projected to be the deadliest for manatees. In 2018, the total manatee count in Florida was a mere 8,810. With excessive pumping comes erosion, pollution, salination, closure of waterways which is all negatively affecting the manatee community. 

Water is a basic human right. Therefore, it should not have to be bought in plastic bottles. Florida needs to hold companies accountable for the amount of water being pumped from aquifers in the state. Florida should also be monetized for the exploitation of its natural resources. There also needs to be protocols in place to protect marine species such as manatees from the effects of over pumping. The green tint of the spring water, overgrowth of algae, and decrease in water flow in the springs is directly related to Nestle and Seven Springs’ irresponsible use of Florida’s water. By placing caps on pumping, the state can easily reverse this issue, but if not done soon, there may not be a way to recover.

References:

About Florida Springs. Protect Florida Springs. (n.d.). https://flspringsplate.com/about-springs.

About us. Nestlé Global. (n.d.). https://www.nestle.com/aboutus.

Allen, G. (2019, November 8). The Water Is Already Low At A Florida Freshwater Spring, But Nestlé Wants More. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2019/11/08/776776312/the-water-is-already-low-at-a-florida-freshwater-spring-but-nestl-wants-more.

Andrei, M. (2021, February 1). Why Nestle is one of the most hated companies in the world. ZME Science. https://www.zmescience.com/science/nestle-company-pollution-children/#Nestle_and_Water.

Florida Manatee. Defenders of Wildlife. (n.d.). https://defenders.org/wildlife/florida-manatee.

Is Bottled Water Sucking Florida Dry? Get the Facts. BlueTriton. (n.d.). https://www.nestle-watersna.com/nestle-water-news/statements/ginnie-springs-florida-q-and-a.

Moody, H. (2020, January 29). Fla. gets a tiny paycheck as Nestle taps its springs. Florida Springs Institute. https://floridaspringsinstitute.org/fla-gets-a-tiny-paycheck-as-nestle-taps-its-springs/.

Murciano, M. (2021, March 13). Nestle Given Permit to Access Ginnie Springs Aquifer. Florida Political Review. http://www.floridapoliticalreview.com/nestle-given-permit-to-access-ginnie-springs-aquifer/.

OUR SPRINGS. Zephyrhills® Brand 100% Natural Spring Water. (n.d.). https://www.zephyrhillswater.com/our-springs.