That bottled water you're drinking is probably from a place hit hard by the drought
Next time you open up your bottle of Arrowhead water, think about the drought-stricken state its contents came from.
As Mother Jones reports, a good amount of bottled water comes from drought zones. About 55 percent of it is spring water (including the brands Crystal Geyser and Arrowhead), which the EPA describes as groundwater collected "at the point where water flows naturally to the earth's surface or from a borehole that taps into the underground source." The other 45 percent (including Dasani and Aquafina) comes from the municipal water supply — treated tap water.
There are a few reasons why so much of the bottled water supply comes from a parched California. Some of the many brands that have set up shop in the Golden State have been there more than a century. "You have to remember this is a 120-year-old brand," Arrowhead's Jane Lazgin tells Mother Jones. "Some of these sources have long, long been associated with the brand." California also does not have groundwater regulation, meaning if a water company drills and finds water, they get to use it.
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But there's also an obvious reason that companies continue shipping out water from states that are struggling to find enough: Profit. In 2012, companies produced about 10 billion gallons of water with sales of $12 billion.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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