She took on California’s famous Arrowhead bottled water brand — and won

Amanda Frye of Redlands took on the company that owns California’s famous Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water over water rights to Strawberry Creek in the San Bernardino National Forest. She was among a number of local residents, community groups and non-profits, and everyone took actions like boycotting the company, signing petitions and donating money to organizations fighting Arrowhead’s water take in the San Bernardino National Forest.

Last month, the State Water Resources Control Board agreed that BlueTriton — the company that owns Arrowhead — doesn’t have rights to the water in the national forest and issued a Cease and Desist order for the headwater springs, significantly reducing water withdrawals and leaving the door open for further action.

Arrowhead bottled water dates back to 1909, when the historic Arrowhead Hot Springs hotel bordering the national forest land at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains began selling spring water from its private property. The iconic brand became the official refreshment of the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. Ownership shifted to Nestle in the 1980s, which sold the bottled water business in 2021 to a private equity group that formed BlueTriton Brands, Inc.

BlueTriton filed suit Oct. 20 challenging the water board’s decision, arguing state law empowers it to govern only surface water, not the underground spring water the company collects through a network of boreholes and tunnels in Strawberry Canyon. It said it was the first time in more than 100 years any government agency had questioned the company’s water rights at Strawberry Canyon.

Q: What got you interested in the water rights case?

A: In 2014, we were in a really bad drought. Steve Loe, a retired U.S. Forest Service biologist who I met through a mutual friend, started sending emails about Strawberry Creek. Mr. Loe explained that Nestle was taking water in the San Bernardino National Forest on an expired special use permit, and continued water take could dry up Strawberry Creek. I thought this makes no sense, this is completely wrong, what in the world is going on.

Q: What did you do then?

A: I said I’d just write one letter, and that was all I was going to do. So I wrote that letter to the U.S. Forest Service chief and copied to the Secretary of Agriculture since the Forest Service is under the USDA. I wrote this letter and never heard anything. Later I enlisted the help of my Congressman at the time, Rep. Pete Aguilar, who contacted the Secretary of Agriculture, and later the National Environmental Policy Act review was started. The one question no one could answer was did Nestle actually have water rights in our national forest.

Q: But you didn’t give up?

A: Then curiosity got the best of me. In the beginning, no one could fathom that Arrowhead Water might not have water rights. My research skills as a scientist were important. I had some other advantages too: when I was in junior high I worked in a survey office so I understood the Public Land Survey system of township, section and range, which was important in understanding location, reading documents, and maps. And I had a friend, a retired district attorney who prosecuted fraud, and she showed me the ropes on building a fraud case, researching corporate filings and local records.

I went to the county hall of records and started reading documents, and I was just so stunned by what I saw. And I kept digging, and started reading old newspapers and started going through the archives. I’m kind of the accidental activist. I spent seven years collecting documents and putting the case together.

Q: How did you get the state to take a look?

A: Myself and others filed complaints with the water board. In early 2016, I attended the Sand to Snow National Monument dedication was able to speak to (Natural Resources Agency Secretary) John Laird. I had the opportunity to explain that Nestle (Arrowhead’s owner then) was taking water from the national forest and asked for his help on a water rights investigation.

Q: Had you been up in the forest to see what was happening with Strawberry Creek?

A: Over the last nine years I have hiked the Strawberry Creek and headwater spring sites many times. The site is not easy to access and you need to hike with people that know the area. The first time we tried, we couldn’t access the main spring complexes because of the overgrowth on the old trail since Nestle accessed the sites via helicopter.

We finally were able to trim brush and access the sites and it was stunning to see vaults (concrete and stone bunkers that are part of a system of boreholes and tunnels drilled into the mountain) with pipes that block the natural springs with a pipeline gushing with water running along the dry creek bed. The pipeline drains the water down the mountains. It was obvious that there was something wrong.