Starbucks will stop producing its Ethos bottled water in California, a state that suffered a severe drought for the past four years and recently mandated strict water use restrictions.
A substitute bottled water production site will be Starbucks’ Pennsylvania supplier, but the company plans to look for other water sources for the West Coast. Starbucks said it has decreased the amount of water used in California stores by 26 percent in response to water restrictions there. Ironically, since Ethos was launched in 2002, Starbucks has dedicated a portion of its sales to funding water projects in the third world, including Africa, Indonesia and Latin America.