Thank you for accepting my…

Thank you for accepting my comments, for even though they are brief, it is important enough for me to submit my support and my concerns:

1. I support the strategy for managing permits to take water in water-stressed areas, *if water truly must, in fact be taken for bottling purposes*. I stand firm that it ought not be taken for bottling at all.
Safe drinking water in North America is freely available to all, and going back to the well-known, well-documented concerns about plastics filling up our oceans & waters, I object to the bottling of water for commercial purposes entirely. However, if the government is unwilling to heed that call to protect the environment, then managing permits is the very least we can do. However, while the strategy for managing permits is something, I feel the Ministry does not have the tools it needs to protect natural ecosystems in those areas.

2. I support priorities of water use, by which a water taking permit will not be issued if it will cause unacceptable impacts to drinking water needs or to the environment. Again, I am concerned that impacts to ecosystem needs will not be adequately measured. I am also concerned that long-term planning for municipal water sources is not taken into account.

3. I support transparency of data, but the proposed regulation offers public access only to the most minimal information.