Dear Ministry Of Environment…

Dear Ministry Of Environment,

It is good to see democracy at work with the chance to comment on the proposed changes to water taking in Ontario. After years of advocacy, I am pleased to see that this government is taking the issue of water governance seriously.

Having recently moved to the beautiful town of Elora, I have become increasingly involved in the growing community awareness of the importance of water protection as well as the problematic reality of the commodification of water here and around the world. This is an assault on many levels, least of which for me is deeply spiritual. Without water none of us would exist and we owe our respect and gratitude to water. When we love something we will fight to protect it. I have no option but to advocate for a more environmentally wise and appropriate treatment of this precious resource. Water is not a commodity to be bought and sold. Water truly is a sacred trust and it deserves to be treated that way.

Extracting water and selling it in plastic bottles is new phenomena. It literally did not exist 40 years ago. Now corporations make huge profits off the sale of our water and add to the alarming plastic pollution with less than 10% being recycled. The marketing industry around bottled water has convinced many people that bottled water is preferable to tap water, even though new studies suggest that there are more micro plastics in bottled water than tap water.

That the review determined that bottled water takings in Ontario are not impacting the sustainability of groundwater resources is not very reassuring given the above. What about the sustainability of continuing to produce plastic to wrap the water around? The sustainability of recycling that plastic? The moral and ethical implications of taking water from a community and selling it for a huge profit? The cost the community pays for infrastructure repairs to roads and bridges when water is carted out in transport trucks? I believe the time is now for the government to question the logic of allowing water bottling companies to continue to exploit our natural resources. I firmly hope and will fight for all water bottling permits to be phased out. There is no place for bottled water in a sustainable and environmentally responsible future. This government could lead the way and set an example for other provinces to start thinking along the same lines.

With that said, I will comment on the 4 points since change happens slowly and public opinion needs to inform government choices.

1) Municipalities need to have a right to veto new and increased bottled water takings. If communities need to prove that science is on their side for not allowing water taking for profit, then the provincial government should provide this support as they did for Centre Wellington with the Tier 3 Study. The criteria must be expanded to include economic and ethical factors. Indigenous communities need to be considered through direct engagement in order to give consent for water taking for bottling on their land. The current practice of delegating consultation to the permit applicant is not acceptable.

2) Selling our water back to us in plastic bottles is completely unnecessary as well as harmful to the environment in the amount of energy it takes to produce the bottle and transport it, not to mention the plastic waste. The needs of the non human creatures who rely on water and a natural habitat to live in needs to take precedent over water bottlers and industrial use of water as well as the peoples right to secure drinking water. Agricultural needs need to come before any water extraction for bottling purposes.

3) Long term monitoring is needed to better understand the impact of water taking especially in light of the climate uncertainties we are facing and not only in water quantity stressed areas. The cumulative effects of many different water takers on a regional area and watershed are difficult to measure and need to be given more attention.

4) Absolutely there needs to be transparency. Data on water taking needs to be available to the public for review and comment.

Thank you