--- title: Starbucks Water Comes From Drought-Stricken California | TIME description: A report from Mother Jones found Starbucks' Ethos Water comes from some of the areas hit hardest by California's drought, worrying residents. canonical: https://time.com/video/F4jzj8Hv/ og:title: Starbucks Water Comes From Drought-Stricken California og:description: A report from Mother Jones found Starbucks' Ethos Water comes from some of the areas hit hardest by California's drought, worrying residents. og:url: https://time.com/video/F4jzj8Hv/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/F4jzj8Hv/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Starbucks Water Comes From Drought-Stricken California twitter:description: A report from Mother Jones found Starbucks' Ethos Water comes from some of the areas hit hardest by California's drought, worrying residents. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/F4jzj8Hv/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Starbucks Water Comes From Drought-Stricken California > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Starbucks Water Comes From Drought-Stricken California [Watch (HLS stream): Starbucks Water Comes From Drought-Stricken California](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/F4jzj8Hv.m3u8) (1:51)  _Published 2015-05-01. A report from Mother Jones found Starbucks' Ethos Water comes from some of the areas hit hardest by California's drought, worrying residents._ --- Jul 27, 2023 6:12 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Donald Trump Tells Drought-stricken California: ‘There Is No Drought’](/video/pzPgdStU/) ### Donald Trump Tells Drought-stricken California: ‘There Is No Drought’ [Los Angeles Throws 96M Balls At California's Drought Problem](/video/7Yn2cIV0/) ### Los Angeles Throws 96M Balls At California's Drought Problem [How California’s Drought Will Affect Your Wallet](/video/e4k4jpdG/) ### How California’s Drought Will Affect Your Wallet --- ## Transcript Starbucks owned Ethos water gained great success for its promise to provide children with access to clean water, donating 5 cents to the cause for every bottle sold. But as it turns out, that water Starbucks sells, comes from one of the worst hit areas in California's severe drought. One place where the water is bottled in California is Right around this area, Merced County, which is suffering from what authorities call exceptional drought conditions. Now just to be clear, the bottled water plant in Merced County where Ethos Water comes from is actually owned and operated by grocery store chain Safeway. But Starbucks is still being blamed. Anna Lenzer with Mother Jones, talk to a Starbucks Spokesman about its use of scarce water resources. And he replied that Starbucks uses a private spring source that is not used for municipal water for any communities but that doesn't pose any ess of a problem. The state's department of water resources says. [ INAUDIBLE ] communities could be affected because the water is captured before it actually makes its way to those communities. People who live in the area are worried the water could be coming from community supplies but in California, data about the well's locations and. And pumping rates as private information, making it difficult to pinpoint how much water is being used and from where. In an effort to combat these issues, Merced country officials passed history proposal in March, dealing with the use and sale of ground water. If you propose to export water out of the county, you need a permit. If you over draft ground water on new wells. You'll need a permit. The ordnance will also require meters for new wells so the county can track usage. In addition to Starbucks and Safeway some other big names are using California's precious resources. Bottled water companies Dasani, Arrowhead and Aquafina all have plans in some of the driest parts of the state. 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