I support the extension of…

I support the extension of the moratorium on new and expanded water taking permits. Water is a common good and should not be sold as a commodity. Water is a basic human right, necessary for our survival and should not be sold. The water taken from our ground water and aquifers and sold around the world does not return to our water table, it is gone forever. While most of our groundwater is glacial in origin, only 20 percent of our groundwater is renewable through rain and snow melt. In Northumberland County where I reside, we depend on ground water and the aquifers of the Oak Ridges Moraine to supply our wells, our farmers' crops and livestock with water. However, GOTT Enterprises has two bottle water taking plants in our county alone, taking millions of litres of water from our area daily for pennies and sell it making obscene profits, and they are not even shown on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment map of the water taking permit holders. Even if the permits are expired, companies that still take groundwater should be shown on the ministry website, failure to include them is deceptive.
Has the quantity of water in our aquifers been ascertained to see if we have enough for our use, local agriculture which is the biggest employer and biggest industry in our county, and enough for future generations and our increased population?
Bottled water companies pollute our environment with billions of empty single use water bottles.There should be a ban on theses single use plastic water bottles. The Ontario government has to step up and protect our water from these robber barons, before it's too late! Our homes, farms will be worthless and our lives will be irrevocably impacted if these companies are allowed to continue extracting water and empty our aquifers.

Being open for business in Ontario does not mean allowing companies to sell our water out from under us. It must stop now!