Water

Richard Girard, Polaris Institute, June 8, 2009 - Recent industry analysis shows that countries in the Global South have the best potential for future growth in bottled water sales. Market reports predict that over the next four years sales of bottle water will grow most quickly in Asia and Latin America due to 'the poor quality of potable water' in many countries. Africa is also highlighted as a having strong potential for bottled water sales due to the ‘poor quality of potable water'. In addition to limited access to clean tap water, reports mention the rising number of people with disposable incomes as a driver for growth in the industry.

This is all very positive for bottled water companies, but signals a wrong turn in the struggle to bring publicly managed municipal water service to communities and will have severe impacts on how populations view the delivery of this basic human right.

This is a message from our friends in Ghana who are struggling against the poor water services provided by a Dutch/South African multinational water services company:

Water services delivered to the Ghanaian public must be among the worst in the world. Under Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL), the private company that is being paid millions of dollars of our public resources to ‘manage’ the water service, things are getting worse. In addition to unbelievable scandal of millions of hard currency paid to these most undeserving ‘foreign management experts’, ordinary people’s water charges are going up all the time – water prices for consumers have gone up a MINIMUM of 67% since AVRL took over in 2006. We do not deserve this. AVRL MUST GO NOW!

Click here to read the rest of the message

Waterlife is a new National Film Board documentary about the Great Lakes from Director Kevin McMahon. Please visit the film's excellent website: waterlife.nfb.ca

Here is a description of the film from the 2009 Hot Docs website:

For Immediate Release

OTTAWA/ June 1, 2009 – On May 28, 2009 the Central Okanagan Regional District Board became the 50th municipality (and the 33rd in 2009) to implement municipal restrictions on bottled water in Canada.

“From Toronto to Vancouver, in big cities and rural towns, municipalities are taking out bottled water and re-investing in water fountains,” says Joe Cressy, Campaigns Coordinator of the Polaris Institute.

In March 2009 the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) passed a resolution urging “all municipalities to phase out the sale and purchase of bottled water at their own facilities”.

“Bottled water is a redundant product. It is more expensive than gasoline, 2000 times more energy intensive than tap water, and not adequately regulated,” explained Tony Clarke, author of Inside the Bottle.

Bottled Water Backlash:
-50 municipalities from 8 provinces and 1 territory have restrictions on bottled water

On Tuesday May 5, Canadian Senator, Grant Mitchell (Liberal) launched an inquiry into the provision of bottled water in Federal Facilities. To launch the inquiry he delivered the following 15 minute speech on the subject:

Honourable senators, I rise to draw the attention of honourable senators to an environmental initiative that would be relatively easy to implement and would save the federal government a significant amount of money, thereby saving taxpayers a significant amount of money.

Sewell Chan, New York Times, May 5, 2009 - The state will no longer purchase single serve water bottles and larger, cooler-sized water bottles for state agencies.

Citing both financial and environmental reasons, Gov. David A. Paterson signed an executive order on Tuesday directing state agencies to phase out the purchase and use of bottled water at government workplaces.

The order will gradually terminate the use of state money for the purchase of single-serve water bottles and larger, cooler-sized water bottles. Each executive agency will have to provide alternative water sources, like ordinary tap water fountains and dispensers.

Why is the Federal Government spending as much as $7.2 million on bottled water?

For Immediate Release

HALIFAX/OTTAWA, April 29, 2009 – Findings released today by the Polaris Institute and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Nova Scotia, have exposed 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.

OTTAWA - March 26, 2009 – In response to a January 2009, Question on the Order Paper from Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, the Government of Canada responded with further troubling information about the lack of government regulatory oversight of bottled water.

The government’s response included the following:

- In the last 12 months the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has only inspected 16 of the 282 (6%) bottled water plants in Canada – “From April 1, 2008 until the present, the CFIA has completed a total of 16 inspections of bottled water manufacturers across Canada.”
- The CFIA only tests bottled water products when problems have already been detected - "CFIA will test for [these] bacteria when the manufacturer is out of compliance and/or has been implicated in foodborne outbreaks."

“Murky Waters” report describes the urgent need for health and environment regulations of bottled water in Canada

OTTAWA, March 24, 2009 – In a new report released today by the Polaris Institute, the current state of federal bottled water regulations in Canada is shown to be woefully inadequate.

The new report, Murky Waters: The urgent need for health and environmental regulations of the bottled water industry, describes numerous troubling findings:

-Since 2000, there have been 29 recalls of 49 bottled water products in Canada (obtained through Access to Information by the Polaris Institute).

March 23, 2009, For Immediate Release, Monday, March 23rd 2009 - University of Winnipeg Bans Bottled Water on Campus – 1st University in Canada to Implement a Ban!

WINNIPEG – Today the University of Winnipeg announced that it will become the first university in Canada to end the provision and sale of bottled water campus-wide.

The sale of bottled water will be phased out by the Fall 2009 semester and funding will be put towards upgrading water infrastructure on campus. Water fountains will also be installed and located in prominent areas in three new facilities.

The University of Winnipeg Students’ Association (UWSA) also recently voted to end the purchase and provision of bottled water at student-led events and meetings, and in a recent student initiated referendum, three-quarters of students voted to eliminate the sale of bottled water on campus with the highest voter turnout in years.