Blue Communities

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Blue Community The Blue Communities Project encourages municipalities and Indigenous communities to support the idea of a water commons framework, recognizing that water is a shared resource for all, by passing resolutions that:

Recognize water and sanitation as human rights.
Ban or phase out the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities and at municipal events.
Promote publicly financed, owned, and operated water and wastewater services.

The Council of Canadians, the Blue Planet Project and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) initiated the Blue Communities Project in 2009. Eau Secours is a partner on the Blue Communities Project in Quebec. The Blue Communities movement has grown internationally with Paris, France, Bern, Switzerland and other municipalities around the world going “blue.” Schools, religious communities and faith-based groups have also adopted principles that treat water as a common good that is shared by everyone and is the responsibility of all.

Here are some answers to commonly asked questions about the Blue Communities Project.

We invite you to become a part of the local and global movement for water security and justice by joining the Blue Communities Project – a joint initiative that furthers the work of local Water Watch coalitions across the country.

Learn what you can do as a community activist, public sector worker or municipal councillor to help protect the water commons – our shared water resources – in the face of increasing pressure to put water up for sale and privatize water services.

Map of Blue Communities:

Recent highlights

WIN! Sisters of Mercy recognized as a Blue Community for water justice work

October 23, 2018

The Council of Canadians proudly welcomes the Sisters of Mercy, recognizing the religious congregation as the 47th Blue Community worldwide. As reported in St. John’s Telegram, Andrea Furlong, the interim executive director of the Council of Canadians presented the Blue Communities designation to Sisters of Mercy representative Sister Diane Smyth during a ceremony at McAuley Convent in St. John’s...

Global water justice activists mobilize to keep water public in Switzerland

October 22, 2018

Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Planet Project and Honorary Chairperson of the Council of Canadians spoke in Zurich last week urging the city not to privatize its drinking water systems.

Water event to examine Nestlé, the Great Lakes, and London becoming a Blue Community

October 15, 2018

Water advocates Emma Lui and Waasekom (Edward George) will be in London, Ontario on Wednesday to discuss water crises in the Great Lakes Basin and beyond at the event, What do water, the Great Lakes and the election have in common?

How much would it cost the Trudeau government to implement the human right to water?

September 28, 2018

The 2019 Alternative Federal Budget released last week outlines how much funding the Trudeau government needs to allocate in the 2019 budget - leading up to the federal election - to protect drinking water and watersheds.

Murky Waters: When Governments Turn Water Management into a Business

September 26, 2018

My chapter, Murky Waters: When Governments Turn Water Management into a Business, in the new book Corporatizing Canada looks at how governments are changing to operate like corporations in water management and how this can threaten people’s ability to access clean, safe and affordable water.