OPINION PIECE BY SUSAN KOSWAN

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following Opinion piece from Susan Koswan titled "Our water should not be for sale". Susan is promoting the use of "...safe and affordable drinking water." over single use plastic water bottles. Ms. Koswan is suggesting that municipal tap water is generally safe and affordable. I am glad to see however that she does point out that there are indeed pitfalls even with municipal tap water as she mentions notable failures in Walkerton, Elmira, and Grassy Narrows Ontario. I would suggest that the list of municipalities with less than "safe" much less pristine tap water is longer. At the same time while I believe that the testing of tap water is far from perfect it is far more extensive than testing done on bottled water which in theory at least is taken from better (i.e. less industrialized) source areas.

Ms. Koswan also promotes two local organizations namely Save Our Water and the Wellington Water Watchers both of whom advocate for better, safer water and against Nestle Inc. who aggressively extract and sell bottled water. I have met and dealt with a number of members of Wellington Water Watchers in the past and found them to be excellent. I expect that members of Save Our Water are equally dedicated.

Currently there is a ban on new water bottling operations in Ontario which expires on December 31 of this year. There is a meeting open to the public (register on-line due to seating limitations) on November 11 from 7-9 pm. in the atrium at Renison University College.