PTTWs to take water for…

PTTWs to take water for bottling should be phased out. Emphasis should be placed on drinking water quality from the tap where it is not up to standard to make it safe everywhere. Educational campaigns should be undertaken to promote safety of tap water. By drastically reducing bottled water a huge environmental disaster caused by plastic can be avoided. Bottling water is unnecessary and therefore the lowest priority of water uses. Water is not a commodity and should not be bottled and sold. People's need come first, profit from bottled water is not as important.

Until such time as PTTWs for bottling water are phased out then PTTWs for water bottling should include the following requirements:

1. Applicants for PTTWs for bottled water must have consent of municipality on all applications for new permits and permit renewals. The criteria municipalities use to determine consent must be expanded beyond water quantity criteria. Expanded criteria must include water quality, environmental, social, economic and factors related to water taking for bottling.

2. Indigenous communities must consent to PTTWs for water bottling in their territories. Consent must be achieved through direct engagement with Indigenous communities by the Ontario government. The current practice of delegating consultation to the PTTW applicant is insufficient and unacceptable. Consultation also does not constitute consent.

PTTWs for all uses should include the following requirements:

3. Applicants for PTTWs for all uses (e.g. PTTWs for dewatering of aggregate extraction sites) must require consent of municipalities and Indigenous communities.
4. Long term monitoring should be instituted to better understand water quantity and water quality trends over time.
5. Raw and aggregated data from monitoring should be made available to the public. Insights from data analysis should be made available in lay language.
6. More funding should be provided to municipalities, and Conservation Authorities to conduct localized water studies that assess quantity, quality and cumulative effects of water taking.