Mr. Jeff Yurek and members…

Mr. Jeff Yurek and members of the Ministry of the Environment,

I am writing to express my concern about the proposals you are suggesting with regard to water.
First of all I need to say that Water is a human right and a sacred gift - no community or business, no one owns water. It is a social justice issue with society's most marginal people, including our indigenous sisters and brothers go without potable water or must boil contaminated water for their drinking water.

I believe that ground water taken over several days can take decades to replenish. And climate change makes water security very unpredictable. Millions of plastic water bottles are used every day and most are not recycles and end up in our rivers and oceans - even recycled ones eventually end up in landfill.

The water permit process has not been updated for over 30 years and was never intended to foster the wholesale extraction of water for PROFIT !!! Please do not allow water to be a commodity that makes big money for international companies and deprives our people of potable water. Please reconsider the proposals you are making and respect the sacred gift of water to all people and all creatures.