Water bottler permissions misunderstood

Re: Time for Ontario to protect its water supplies — May 12

Permits for extractions of groundwater have many uses in the province of Ontario, but the proportion permitted for water bottlers is often misunderstood.

Ontario water bottlers account for only 0.001 per cent of the 377 trillion litres of total annual permitted amounts covered by active Ontario Permits to Take Water. By comparison, this publicly available data from Ontario’s Ministry of Environment also shows that permits for irrigation of Ontario’s golf courses are 53 times larger than for bottled water companies. Permits for esthetic water features and tobacco growing are also significantly larger.

The statistics quoted by Mike Nagy and Maude Barlow that “two-thirds of the public supports an end to water-extraction permits for bottling,” may not ring true when Ontarians become aware of this industry’s place within water extraction permits as a whole. Earlier this year, Forum Research polling (http:// watercanada.net/2017/ontario-bottled-water-policyand-public-opinion-at-odds/) showed that 74 per cent of Ontario respondents did not know that water bottlers account for less than one per cent of total permitted groundwater extractions. When provided this information, 72 per cent agreed that they don’t think it’s fair for the government to single out regulations for bottledwater companies when other industries are exempt.

Members of the Canadian Beverage Association look forward to continue working with Ontario’s government to safeguard groundwater in a manner consistent across industries, and proportionate to amount taken and environmental impact. Jim Goetz President, Canadian Beverage Association Toronto