Council of Canadians submission to the Councillors of the Waterloo Region

Dear Councillor,

The Council of Canadians commends you for considering a ban on the sale of bottled water on Regional properties and the provision of bottled water at Regional functions. The environmental and social costs of bottled water are enormous and the proposed measures will make a huge difference in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, eliminating waste from our crowded landfills, and in making the Region of Waterloo an environmental leader in Canada.

In an era when the world is dealing with the impacts of climate change, the bottled water industry requires massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture. According to the Bow River Keeper, a citizens’ group aimed at protecting the Bow River watershed, a quarter of the 89 billion litres of bottled water consumed every year is consumed outside the country of its origin. Hence the transportation of bottled water also produces large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. The Bow River Keeper estimates that “the manufacturing and transport of one kilogram bottle of Fiji water consumes 26.88 kilograms of water (7.1 gallons), 0.849 kilograms of fossil fuel (one litre or 0.26 gal) and emits 562 grams of greenhouse gases (1.2 pounds).”

Bottled water also creates excessive amounts of physical waste when Ontario is dealing with a waste management crisis.As the municipal staff report states, “Although the Region of Waterloo has a progressive waste management program and has successfully diverted significant volumes of recyclables, including single-use water bottles from landfill, this is an unnecessary effort.”

This effort is unnecessary when we consider that the municipality’s water quality standards exceed those of the bottled water industry, which is gouging consumers for a product that is readily available at a tiny cost from everyone’s taps – and at a time of growing water scarcity, even here in Canada.  

Twenty per cent of Canadian municipalities have faced water shortages in recent years. And yet Canada is a net exporter of bottled water, selling its ancient glacier waters all over the world mostly for the profit of the foreign-owned, big four water companies. Most provinces charge these companies next to nothing to extract this water from springs and aquifers, and whole watersheds are now under threat from this practice.

According to the Earth Policy Institute, water shortages have been reported in the Great Lakes region near water bottling plants. In Guelph Ontario, a citizen’s coalition called the Wellington Water Watchers (WWW), which includes members of the Council of Canadians, has launched a campaign against Nestlé. The corporation’s water taking on 3.6 million litres per day is causing a reversal of groundwater flow to the Mill Creek. In April 2008, the Ontario government renewed Nestlé’s permit for a period of two years. The WWW is hoping that by the time the permit expires, there will no longer be a demand for bottled water outside of emergency use.

That demand for bottled water is not natural but has been carefully fostered by an industry that works hard to undermine our faith in public water. Nestlé, for instance, markets Aquapod, which is shaped like a rocket and aimed at the six-to-twelve-year-old market and whose slogan is ‘A blast of fun.’ Ads for the product have hit DC Comic books, Nickelodeon and children’s television shows. Nestlé spokesperson, John Challinor’s claim last week that citizens will turn to less healthful beverages if they can’t buy bottled water is ludicrous. In reality, corporations like Nestlé have turned water into a commodity precisely because North Americans are turning away from their other unhealthy products.

The Council of Canadians sees municipal bottled water bans as an incentive to improve access to public drinking water in Canadian communities and calls on the federal government to complement these bans, like the one being proposed in the Waterloo Region, with a national water policy that establishes national drinking water standards, improves funding to municipalities, protects groundwater sources and bans bulk water exports. We commend the Waterloo Region for considering this ban and encourage you to vote in favour of the resolution.

Sincerely,

Meera Karunananthan
National water campaigner,Council of Canadians
613.233.4487 ext 234
And

Stuart Trew
Regional Organizer for Ontario –Quebec, Council of Canadians
(416) 979-5554