re: ERO number 019-0913…

re: ERO number 019-0913

First of all, I am grateful for the extension of the moratorium on bottled water permits, however, it is seriously faulted in that continued water extraction to previously permitted levels is allowed to continue. Any bottled water permits should be ENDED at the close of the moratoriums if not before. Ontario residents do NOT want ANY water bottling permits. (82%: Oracle Survey, 2018)

There are four important points here-

1) Water is not and should never be a commercial commodity. Fresh water is absolutely vital for life and should NEVER be sold for profit.

2) Allowing bottled water permits is completely irresponsible support of the SINGLE USE plastic bottle industry, a huge part of totally unacceptable, indeed criminal, marine pollution.

3) Water bottling removes water from our aquifers. Water bottling takes local water and sends it all over the country if not the world- (in single use plastic bottles). Other uses of water that take water from our aquifers eventually return it to the aquifer in one form or another: farming, construction, tap water- These all eventually return water to the area from which it came. Bottled water permits should end.

4) We have no idea how stable our water supply is. NO CURRENT STUDY CAN BE RELIED ON. The wild card of the CLIMATE EMERGENCY means that our water supplies can be seriously compromised without warning: Flooding, toxic runoff, major storms that mean much needed rainwater can disappear in runoff, altered ecology of an area that can no longer sustain the water table, destruction of water infrastructure from storms- and unreliable population projections. The Climate crisis already has resulted in climate refugees, and there will be millions more. We cannot simply turn our backs on people in need of this most basic right- water.

Do NOT extend the bottled water permits any further after October 2020 and end all previously issued permits.