First of all, I would like…

First of all, I would like to extend my support for the proposed extension of the moratorium. Further to this, there are a number of considerations I would like the MOECP to consider when drafting new rules for water taking in our province:

I feel it is of utmost importance to have water policy that prioritizes the water use needs of our growing municipalities, of agriculture, and of our ecosystems. As your posting on the ERO indicates, there is still great uncertainty with respect to "how stresses like climate change and population growth may affect the sustainability of these resources". Allowing commercial water bottlers to extract such vast quantities of water, while municipalities push for water conservation to ensure there is enough to go around (e.g. City of Guelph), just doesn't make sense.

Related to the above point, water policy should consider groundwater as a part of freshwater systems, which include the interconnected rivers, wetlands, and lakes, all with intricate and interrelated ecological purposes. There is much that we can know about our groundwater via studies on localized hydrogeomorphology, but I believe there is still a great deal of uncertainty we just cannot live with when making decisions of this scale. Having sufficient water to supply municipal end-users and commercial water bottlers should not be the only metric considered when deciding on new permits or considering renewing existing permits.

Government should be the entity responsible for consulting with First Nations when considering water taking permits. Downloading this responsibility to applicants (a multi-national corporation in the case of Nestle), knowing they have no vested interest in the future of whatever Nation or community they are to consult with, is irresponsible and short-sighted. Our province and the First Nations within it need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, prioritizing the needs of their citizens and constituents over the needs of corporations trying to sell off resources we may need for ourselves.

Our new water policy needs to more adequately consider the water needs of future generations. We need to protect and conserve water for current and future Ontarians, rather than allowing companies to extract our water and truck it outside our watersheds and beyond our borders.

And finally, water policy needs to address the above considerations in the context of climate change. There is still considerable uncertainty regarding what climate change is going to mean for our aquifers and all those whom rely on them.

It is my hope that this additional time will allow for a serious examination of all the issues surrounding local water-use needs and the creation of a more complete assessment process for water-taking permits going forward.