ONTARIANS ANGRY OVER BOTTLED WATER RULES

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story titled "Wide support for action on bottled water plants". Basically it is informing us that more than 20,000 people (myself included) have responded to the government's proposed moratorium on water taking permits for new or expanded bottled water operations. The majority of responders are in favour of the ban.

Much credit must go to the Wellington Water Watchers in Guelph who brought this issue to the forefront. They have been fighting Nestle in regards to their Aberfoyle water takings for some time now. Then when they learned of Nestle's plans in regards to the Middleton Rd. well outside of Elora they really ramped up the pressure. The Elora area well it turned out had been on the radar of the municipality of Centre Wellington. Unfortunately they were much too slow in getting an offer in to the current owner.

Clearly with expected climate change issues that include both more floods and more droughts it makes sense for municipalities to secure our jointly owned water supplies first rather than let corporations tie up our groundwater for future profits. This essentially is what sand and gravel companies have been doing for decades. While the resource should be everybodies, private companies have been buying properties and then getting licences to extract gravel and sand even when they have no immediate market for their products. It's all about staking their claim before the next company.