Forest Service Orders Company Selling Arrowhead Water to Shut Down California Pipeline

The district forest ranger said that the conditions in the Strawberry Canyon area had ’significantly changed since our last evaluation in 2018.’

A worker loads bottled water for delivery at the Arrowhead Bottled Water Delivery center in Los Angeles on Sept. 20, 2023. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Forest Service has denied the company that sells Arrowhead bottled water a permit allowing the use of water in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California, prompting a legal battle over control of the company’s equipment and infrastructure.

In a July 26 letter, San Bernardino National Forest District Ranger Michael Nobles told BlueTriton Brands—the parent company of Arrowhead—that its application for use and occupancy of land in the San Bernardino National Forest had been denied.