My concern is with the…

My concern is with the Triton Holdings request for water bottling permits in both the Erin and Aberfoyle facilities, since both of these facilities are in the Grand River Watershed and are part of the same aquifer systems.
As I write Guelph is already in level 1 drought conditions - and it is mid June. We are a city of some 136,000 entirely dependent on ground water - that is for our DRINKING water.
At the same time we are surrounded in the Grand River Watershed by incredibly fertile farmland, thanks to glacial deposits. Those farmers feed a great many of the people in our region and in fact across Ontario and beyond. Those farmers need water for their crops. Until recently they have relied on precipitation, but credible, university based climate scientists inform us that with rising temperatures that in the next 5 years those farmers will need to irrigate - that means they need wells that have not dried up.

The most important question for the ministry of environment is whether the food and water needs of the resident population of the Grand River water shed is more important than allowing for the bottling water to send out of the watershed.

Triton is asking to take in excess of ONE BILLION litres of water from our aquifer every year for 10 years. They will pay a pittance for the water they take and then sell it in small polluting plastic bottles. An interesting business model - take water from an area that is experiencing more and more drought and put it into containers that pollute the planet for sale in the open market.

I urge the provincial government to stand up for the rights of all the people in our watershed, ensure that residents actually have water in their wells to drink and that farmers are able to grow the corps that feed us all. Please decline the permit request of Triton water holdings.