On Wednesday, California Water Resources Control Board officials聽ordered Sugar Pine Spring Water to stop tapping water sources in the Sierra Nevada for bottling and selling,聽. Regulators captured聽tanker trucks entering and leaving one of Sugar Pine鈥檚 plants on video.听
Kathy Mrowka, the enforcement manager of the Water Resources Control Board, told the AP that Sugar Pine is the first commercial water bottling company that the state has pursued legal action against this year.听The proposed sanctions include a nearly $225,000 fine for unlawfully collecting and transporting water to bottling plants for the past two years.
The state has proposed fines against multiple irrigation districts, including a $1.5 million dollar fine against the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District聽that is currently being challenged, according to the .听鈥婥rystal Geyser Water Co.听plans to tap an aquifer in Siskiyou County, despite local opposition. The springs that Sugar Pine tapped are within the state鈥檚 jurisdiction because they are surface waters聽as opposed to聽groundwaters,聽California water board spokesman Tim Moran told the AP. But聽the state cannot intervene with Crystal Geyser Water Co.'s tapping location聽because groundwater regulations will not be finalized for years.