http://www.salon.com/2015/04/07/nestles_despicable_water_crisis_profiteering_how_its_making_a_killing_— while_california_is_dying_of_thirst/
In particular, Nestlé has a 25-year contract with the Morongo Band of Cahuila Mission Indians to draw water from wells in Millard Canyon, in the desert city of Cabazon. The plant is one of the largest in North America. Morongo, which also has a casino that features entertainment from the likes of REO Speedwagon and Australian male revue “Thunder From Down Under,” no longer provides statistics on how much water Nestlé pumps out of the underground spring. But
independent statistics put the total anywhere between 200 and 250 million gallons a year.
This is a small number in the grand scheme of things: the water restrictions announced by Gov. Brown would save
500 billion gallons a year, or 2,000 times as much as what Nestlé pumps out. But Nestlé has at least a
dozen such operations statewide, many in severely dry regions. And the fact that they’ve turned exporting groundwater during a drought into a moneymaking enterprise is absurd. The Morongo plant alone produces over 1 billion bottles of water per year, and the parent company, Nestlé Waters North America, earned annual revenues of $4 billion from its 29 facilities in 2012. Plus, pulling water from an oasis magnifies the environmental impact on the desert ecosystem. The water taken out would normally recharge the local underground aquifer or increase flow along a surface stream.
Morongo
told the Palm Springs Desert Sun that the water plant creates 250 local jobs, and that they control the resources as part of their sovereign nation. And, given the history of American brutalization of native people, it’s hard to get too agitated about how tribal nations use their own land, which represents a tiny fraction of what they actually deserve. But the water actually belonged to the Cabazon Water District as recently as they early 2000s. They sold it to the Morongo tribe in a quick-cash privatization deal for just $3 million, enabling them to temporarily reduce water rates to customers. Morongo almost immediately struck the agreement with Nestlé, for access to a canyon that gushes 3,000 gallons of water per minute at full strength. Nestlé pays Morongo an undisclosed fee for every gallon they pump.
This has become a familiar corporate tactic in recent years — partnering with tribal nations to evade federal laws or restrictions. To use another, even savory example, an online payday-lending service located on Otoe-Missouria tribal lands in Oklahoma
charges 448 percent interest to borrowers nationwide, even those living in states that have banned payday lending. The conservative Institute for Liberty, run by an ex-lobbyist for the National Federation for Independent Business, recently put up billboards in Connecticut, where the state banking department has tried to block the tribal lender, featuring a native child and the caption “Don’t take away my future.” The Institute for Liberty doesn’t have to disclose funders, but they are clearly running interference for the payday lending industry, using tribal members as a shield. Corporations routinely play on their association with tribes to keep profits rolling.