For Immediate Release
April 30, 2009

Vancouver Unbottles It in Time for Olympics

UN Water Advisor praises City’s rejection of bottled water by Canada’s Third Largest City

Vancouver, BC / April 30, 2009 – With less than ten months until the 2010 Olympics, Vancouver City Council has voted unanimously to phase out the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities. This is a new milestone in the international struggle against the commodification of water according to Maude Barlow, senior advisor on water to the President of the United Nations General Assembly and national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “Vancouver City Council should be commended for its decisive vote to phase out the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities,” says Barlow.

“In this time of increased corporatization of public spaces and communities in Vancouver this is a great step forward in the public interest,” says Barlow. “By recognizing its responsibility to improve access to public water supplies and deciding to stop selling bottled water, Vancouver is demonstrating that the days of bottled water are numbered. This decision will reverberate across Canada and around the world, given the growing spotlight on Vancouver as host of the 2010 Olympics.”

On Thursday April 23, Vancouver City Council voted to stop selling bottled water in city-owned facilities. The Council of Canadians is encouraged by the leadership shown by Vancouver City Council, especially given the last-minute lobbying efforts from the bottled water industry. Vancouver chapter activists and members of the Council of Canadians played an important role in recommending the resolution.

“This is about saying no to an irresponsible and redundant product,” says Harjap Grewal, BC-Yukon Regional Organizer with the Council of Canadians. “The bottled water industry has spent millions of dollars trying to convince the public to buy what we can get from our taps. The environmental impacts of bottling water, and the fact that many plastic bottles end up in the landfill, just add to the number of reasons Vancouver, and other cities across Canada, have voted to stop selling bottled water in municipal facilities.”

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For more information contact:

Dylan Penner, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685.www.canadians.org/water