The world is currently…

The world is currently facing enormous pressures on its fresh water stores, both in terms of quantity and quality. Even in circumstances where our fresh water supplies are not being over-used, these supplies are systematically being poluted with industrial chemicals, single use plastic refuse and chemical and biological residues from agriculture. This is not a sustainable practice. The long term cost to our province (and the world in general) will be enormous.

In particular, the big bottlers of water and other drinks (Coke, Pepsi and Nestle) have failed in all respects with the exception of profitability. They consume fresh water in great quantities, almost free of charge. They package it in single use plastic bottles, pay next to nothing in terms of recycling programs for their plastics, and often pay very little in terms of income taxes in any particular country. The industrial waste and post consumer residue from their industry pollutes the land and waters of the entire world.

The current moratorium on new permits for fresh water extraction should be made permanent AND existing extraction permits should be phased out over a short, well defined timeframe.