Hamilton City Council chambers.
The Council of Canadians Hamilton chapter presented to their City’s Board of Health on Thursday April 20 in support of a proposed ban on local groundwater extraction for non-agricultural commercial activity.
Councillor Aidan Johnson’s motion requests staff to study and report to the Board of Health on water-taking by water bottling facilities.
That motion notes, “the report [should] include the feasibility of a permanent ban on water-taking by water bottling facilities (commercial, not agricultural or residential water-taking) within the geographical area of the City of Hamilton.”
Chapter activists David Bennett and David Cherkewski presented to the Board.
Bennett’s submission noted, “The right to water is not a free for all, allowing anyone to use all they want for any purpose. Rather, it guarantees clean, accessible drinking water and sanitation for personal and domestic use for all. The human right to water places the onus on government to provide water and sanitation to their people and to prevent harm to the sources that supply it. This includes the responsibility to protect vulnerable groundwater supplies.”
And he highlighted, “We have been working alongside Wellington Water Watchers to stop Nestle from getting permits for the Middlebrook well. In response to Nestle taking up its option on this well and trumping the Township of Centre Wellington’s bid to buy Middlebrook for the use of future residents, we asked our supporters to commit to a boycott of all bottled water and all Nestle products. Over 50,000 people have declared their support for the boycott to date.”
Bennett concluded, “We call for a phasing out of [existing bottled water taking] permits within the next 10 years and a permanent moratorium on new permits for single-use bottled water, a wasteful and frivolous product which, for every litre of water pumped adds two pieces of plastic to the water stream. …Water is a human right and public trust, to be shared, protected and enjoyed by all those who live around it. Water is for life, not profit. We therefore encourage the City of Hamilton to do everything it can to prevent exploitation of local ground water for the production of single-use bottled water.”
The Board of Health will meet next to discuss this issue on May 15 and June 19.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and City Councillor Johnson will be speaking about water justice at a public forum taking place in Hamilton City Council chambers on June 15 at 7 pm.
#BoycottNestle #right2water
