The Canadian Press reports it has learned that the Ontario government is proposing to charge Nestle and other water-bottling companies more than $500 per million litres of water taken, up from the current fee of $3.71 per million litres.
This morning the news service reports, “A government source says a proposal to increase the charge to $503.71 per million litres for water-bottling companies who take from groundwater will be posted this morning on the regulatory registry for a mandatory 60-day comment period.”
The article highlights, “Critics say simply charging companies more won’t protect the water, while some environmentalists are pushing for a total ban on giving permits to companies that remove the water for bottling. Environmental group Wellington Water Watchers has said that increasing the price for permits for bottled water companies won’t address concerns about water use. ‘No price would be high enough to stop some companies from doing what they’re doing because the profits are so high’, Water Watchers chair Mike Nagy has said.”
We agree. Our position is that an increase in fees charged by a provincial government does not address the fundamental issue of extracting a public resource for corporate profit, the commodification of a human right, or the cumulative impact of the loss of groundwater from a local watershed.
It’s also important to remember that $503.71 per million litres equals just .025 cents for a half litre bottle of water that sells for more than $1 when sold individually at a convenience store and for about .0165 cents per 350ml bottle when sold in a case of 24 bottles at WalMart.
The Ontario government’s 60-day comment period on renewing permits for existing bottled water operations ends on January 31. To date, we have helped generate 2,784 submissions to the government calling on it to:
-
require Nestlé to sell the Middlebrook well to the Township of Centre Wellington who need it for their drinking water -
implement a permanent moratorium on new permits for single-use bottled water facilities -
phase out current permits for such facilities -
prioritize community use over corporate interests for water resources in Ontario -
seek the free, prior and informed consent of affected Indigenous peoples.
Please keep the pressure up on these demands by responding to this online action alert before the end of the month.
Today’s news article adds, “The province has already proposed new restrictions for bottled water companies who want to renew permits and it has imposed a two-year moratorium on permits for new or expanded bottled water operations after Nestle purchased a well that the township of Centre Wellington wanted for its growing community.”
That’s at least in part due to a previous online action alert launched by us last year on new or expanded bottled water operations that generated 9,219 of the 20,000 comments submitted to the government.
In Ontario, Nestle currently has permits to withdraw 3.6 million litres of water a day from a well in Aberfoyle and 1.1 million litres a day from a well in Hillsburgh. Nestle would also like to begin extracting 1.6 million litres a day from a well that it recently purchased in Middlebrook.
To join with the 47,527 people who have taken our Boycott Nestle pledge, please click here.
