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PEI a leader in fight against bottled water

On March 21, the Ottawa Citizen ran a feature article titled, ‘The Story of EAU’, with the sub-heading ‘From prestige product to health booster to environmental scourge, Joanne Chianello examines the backlash against bottled water’.

This article can be read at http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Technology/story.html?id=1414398.

In response to that article, I wrote the following letter to the editor that was published earlier this week:

The Citizen’s feature article on the “environmental scourge” of bottled water was excellent.

Notably, beyond the municipal bans reported in the article we may soon see the first provincial ban. Just this month Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and vice-chairperson Leo Broderick met with Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz. After that meeting, the premier expressed interest in P.E.I. becoming the first province to ban the sale of bottled water in provincial buildings.

P.E.I. has been a leader on this issue. In April 2007, Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee responded to a request from the Council of Canadians and took action to become one of the first cities in Canada to ban bottled water in all city premises and workplaces and at all city council and committee meetings.

This letter to the editor can be read at http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/letters/bottles/1443303/story.html

To read more about our ‘Unbottle It!’ campaign, please go to http://canadians.org/water/issues/Unbottle_It/index.html.