Sites of human settlement…

Sites of human settlement have always been chosen, in part, for their access to water. No one could have foreseen the modern capability to remove huge amounts of water for use elsewhere. In fact, because of the availability of potable local water almost everywhere in Canada, bottled water is a dubious convenience and in fact is sometimes of lower quality than water provided to residents by their own local government.

In addition, municipalities bear the burden of environmental costs externalized by water bottling companies. Pollution caused by the transport of these large amounts of bottled water and disposal/recycling of single-use bottles (which are too often carelessly discarded in public space) are the most obvious examples of these costs.

Permission to increase the amount of water skimmed off by companies at a ridiculously low cost should certainly be dependent on the agreement of local governments, whose citizens are so negatively affected by this “industry”.