Findings by the Polaris Institute and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Nova Scotia, expose the Government of Canada’s practice of purchasing millions of dollars of bottled water.
The report, entitled Bottled Watergate: Why is the Federal Government spending millions of tax dollars on bottled water?, draws attention to our federal government’s growing dependence on bottled water. Findings include:
-Since April 2006, the Government of Canada has spent upwards of $7,296,738 of public money on 131 separate contracts to purchase bottled water.
-7 Federal Departments in 8 provinces are involved in the purchasing of bottled water contracts.
-The same amount of money could have been used to pay for 2,918 indoor or 584 outdoor water fountains.
-The same amount of money could have been used to upgrade a water treatment plant in a First Nations Community.
Look at the findings here [1]
View the Contract spreadsheet here [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.polarisinstitute.org/files/Bottled Watergate - April 2009.pdf
[2] http://www.polarisinstitute.org/files/Contracts Canada Spreadsheet.pdf