Feds Order Pipeline Shut Down In Arrowhead Springs: Report

SAN BERNARDINO, CA — A pipeline used for Arrowhead bottled water has been ordered closed by federal authorities, but not before the vast majority of the water diverted monthly was mysteriously delivered to a long-out-of-business hotel for "undisclosed purposes" instead of being packaged for sale, the Los Angeles Times reported.

According to the Times, the company that sells Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water was recently directed to shut down the pipeline in its namesake springs of the San Bernardino Mountains, which had been used for generations. At issue, is the controversy surrounding a private company's free use of water from public lands. Environmentalists are hailing the decision as a victory. However, thorny questions remain about who has recently been using millions of gallons of water from the pipeline and who should be entitled to it.

The U.S. Forest Service opted not to grant BlueTriton Brands’ permit application to use the pipeline to continue bottling Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water, the newspaper reported Wednesday. The company is challenging the denial in court. Opponents argue BlueTriton has significantly lowered creek flow, causing environmental harm, but the company denies such claims, according to the Times.

The Forest Service disclosed that the application would not be granted in July, a month after Save Our Forest Association argued it was illegal for the federal agency to let the company operate on an expired permit in a lawsuit, the newspaper reported.

BlueTriton has said the agency's denial lacks merit and harms the San Manual Band of Mission Indians, who use the diverted water for firefighting, according to the Times. The pipeline is near the shuttered Arrowhead Springs hotel, which the tribe owns and which has recently received up to 98 percent of the water, the newspaper reported, adding that the volume extracted has increased and none of it has been bottled by BlueTriton for months.

The Forest Service agreed to a 30-day stay to maintain the tribe’s needs, according to the Times.

State officials last year determined the company was illegally diverting much of the water and voted to stop the diversion.

In July, District Ranger Michael Nobles directed BlueTriton to “cease operations” in the San Bernardino National Forest, and plan to remove all pipes and equipment from federal land, the Times reported.

“This increase represents significantly more water than has ever been delivered previously,” Nobles wrote. “The hotel and conference facility on the property is not operating, and there is no explanation of where the millions of gallons of water per month are going.”

BlueTriton has challenged the decision in a lawsuit.

Read more from the Los Angeles Times.