Government policy should…

Government policy should clearly provide communities priority access to groundwater. As the proposal correctly points out, the demands on Ontario's ground water is growing and access to clean water is absolutely critical for living. Therefore taking time to evaluate current and project future community needs makes a lot of sense. Further, the bottled water industry is unnecessary (almost always - with notable unacceptable instances where Indigenous communities do not have access to clean water and for emergency situations). Bottled water produces a HUGE amount of plastic waste and ideally should be phased out and banned in Ontario. Ontario should consider applying a bottle deposit to encourage recycling (which is, of course not a real solution, but is better than landfill or plastics ending up in water bodies). Also, adequate consultation must take place with Indigenous communities. Their knowledge of water goes beyond science. I think that special consideration must also be given to ensuring that agricultural use of water is prioritised over commercial bottling. Local production of food is critical to long term high quality of life in Ontario. The Government of Ontario should also educate residents about the high quality of municipal water and that bottled water is not any better in quality and that bottled water is causing huge amounts of pollution. Finally, Municipalities, particularly communities that rely on groundwater AGREE that their aquifer can support supplying a bottled water permit before any water bottling permit is issued by the Province.