Public water is now available at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
The Council of Canadians Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter is celebrating the introduction of water filling stations at municipal arenas.
Chapter activist Roy Brady tells us, “Finally! It sometimes happens that following a resolution from a Council of Canadians chapter or others that the municipality doesn’t always follow up immediately or ever. Myself and one councillor pushed for public water availability during last year’s two pre-budget meetings.”
The Peterborough Examiner explains, “Peterborough city council decided a while ago to ban bottled water sales in city facilities. When the vending machine deal for city arenas expired last summer, the city stipulated that bottled water could not be sold. The city recently added the water filling stations as an alternative at arenas, including the Memorial Centre and the Evinrude Centre.”
The decision to ban bottled water in city facilities was made back in 2010.
In August 2015, Peterborough This Week reported, “As of this spring, Peterborough’s municipally-run facilities aren’t (or shouldn’t be) selling bottled water. City councillors voted to phase out the sale of bottled water in arenas and other City-owned facilities in 2010, as contracts with bottling companies and distributors ended. The last of those contracts wrapped up in May, bringing and end to bottled water sales at the Peterborough Sport and Wellness Centre, the marina, the Kinsmen Civic Centre, the Evinrude Centre and the Northcrest Arena.”
That article noted, “Ken Doherty, director of community services for the City, says there hasn’t been much of a push back to the ban on bottled water sales, but he and other staff plan to update councillors on the progress of the ban this autumn. That report is slated to include information about the alternative drinking water solutions available in municipally-owned buildings and what work still needs to be done.”
In this May 2010 campaign blog, I wrote: The Peterborough Examiner reports that, “Peterborough will phase in a ban on the sale of bottled water at municipal facilities over the next several years, city council decided… The city will stop the sale of bottled water as current contracts with food service providers expire [in 2013 and 2016] and as the city installs alternative drinking water systems in city facilities.” John Challinor of Nestle Canada argued against the move, but failed in his attempt to “urge council to work with the company on recycling initiatives rather than banning the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities.”
And in this March 2009 campaign blog, I noted: The Peterborough Examiner reports this morning that, “City council asked city staff last night to look at what the municipality would have to do to ban the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities. Town Ward Coun. Dean Pappas raised the issue at the end of the committee of the whole meeting. The Unbottle It campaign with Maude Barlow, the senior adviser on water to the president of the United Nations General Assembly [and CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan], held an event in Peterborough in January. Pappas gave introductory remarks at that Unbottle It campaign event.”
Congratulations to the Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter on this win!
