Say Goodbye to Arrowhead Water?

It sucks anyways.

I rarely drink bottled water, but when I do, I refuse to touch Arrowhead. It tastes like I’m drinking microplastics with a side of water. That’s why I’m so glad the Forest Service ordered Arrowhead to shut down its California pipeline.

Unfortunately, they aren’t going quietly. Four months ago, Arrowhead sued the Forest Service over its “superior right to the water at Arrowhead Springs.” I’ve always sort of known that we probably shouldn’t be letting private entities control public goods, but seeing their arguments in writing makes it extremely clear. In their initial lawsuit, they go on to argue, “The Forest Service now appears to claim that it owns BlueTriton’s water, may choose who uses that water, and may prevent BlueTriton from using it at all.” This is a ridiculous statement considering the water comes from the San Bernandino National Forest. It reads like a kid who just had their toy taken away.

I heard about the lawsuit when it first came out but now that I’ve read the details it just seems so silly. Their entire argument centers around their “right” to the water, which they bought from a guy who first submitted a claim to it in 1865. They argue that since those water rights came before the forest was designated as a national forest, they are fully entitled to do whatever they want with this valuable source of fresh water. And they even let the neighboring Native American tribe use 20% of it! So in their lawsuit, they also argue that shutting down their water usage will harm the tribe. What kills me is that they might technically be right about all of this.

If it were up to me, Arrowhead would lose and they’d have to pack up their operations. There’s evidence they’re depleting the freshwater and harming the local ecosystem, they make single-use plastic bottles that will end up in the ocean or landfills, and now they are throwing a tantrum because someone is telling them to stop. That’s why it’s so frustrating that a jury might have to side with them because of an outdated law. The critical mistake of allowing people to own the natural world was made 150 years ago and we can’t go back and change it.

Companies will fight to the very end to stay alive, whether they’re doing good or bad in the world. We need to put more intense pressure on big corporations to behave in an environmentally responsible way to force them to show their true colors. Right now, they can get away with non-binding net-zero pledges that will be dropped at the first whiff of a new energy-hungry profit opportunity like AI. We’ll need to use the legal system to drive effective climate action, despite its shortcomings made apparent by things like the Arrowhead lawsuit. Without going through exercises like this, the gaps in the system won’t be known and bigger fish will exploit them later. Of course, this means we’ll have to fix them and that’s an entirely different beast. If anyone reading this has legal expertise, please use your powers to build us a better world.

References:

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-08-07/arrowhead-bottled-water-permit

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/bluetriton-motion-preliminary-injunction.pdf