Ask The City of Victoria to Say NO! To Nestle
2011 June 21, by Chapter Council
Marianne Alto, Victoria City Councillor, who introduced and shepherded a resolution through the governance committee of the whole to make Victoria Canada’s second blue Community, posted a note this morning about Nestle lobbying the City of Victoria. A short excerpt is posted here.
This morning I arrived at my office to find an email letter from the Director of Corporate Affairs at Nestle Water Canada. He has respectfully requested that the City of Victoria not ban the sale of bottled water in our facilities.
He says bottled water doesn’t compete with tap water. Yet Statistics Canada says 1 in 5 Canadians now drink bottled water exclusively, 1 in 3 as their primary source of drinking water. That removing bottled water from vending machines in city facilities will leave consumers with no choice but less healthy beverages, or no beverages at all. How about consumers drink our high quality tap water from the fountains at the pool?
It is more important than ever to not let Nestle have the only say here. Remember to contact the Mayor and Council and let them know that you support the Blue Community resolution.
But locals, who know Victoria better, have something different to say. The Victoria Times Colonist came out unwaveringly in support of the Blue Community Resolution
Victoria city council has decided to lead by example, banning the sale of bottled water at its facilities.
Councillors backed a motion by Coun. Marianne Alto that designates the city a “blue community,” one that supports publicly owned water supplies, bans bottled water at civic facilities and recognizes water as a basic human right.
At times, bottled water makes sense. But most of the time, we are buying bottles simply for the sake of convenience. And it’s time to admit that the cost is too high.
Victoria Times Colonist – Dumping Bottled Water
Here’s a letter we authored to the Victoria City Council in conjunction with CUPE Local 50 explaining our position on the Blue Community Resolution and pointing out some errors in Nestle’s misinformation package.
Stay tuned, and join us on Thursday!
[…] The Council of Canadians’ Victoria Chapter’s blog post summarizes our position here: http://www.victoriacouncilofcanadians.ca/2011/06/21/ask-the-city-of-victoria-to-say-no-to-nestle/. […]
Thanks for the comment and support!
I think you wanted to say that the total environmental health cost of bottled water is significantly more than that of plain old tap water?
oops! Thanks for catching that!
Bottled water is expensive. It costs me AND the planet way too much in resources, energy, money, environmental and personal health. I believe that total cost of bottled water is glossed over by companies like Nestle. I’m happy to support the Blue Communities Project.
I think this is a wonderful idea! The only issue I can see is that people will need to remember to bring a bottle of some kind to take tap/fountain water with them. Why? I find fountains are not in enough places and I like to have water on hand all the time. The only way people will get to that habit, however, is to ban bottled water… I am fully on board!
Ross:
Good point on water fountain accessibility. Part of a city’s commitment to a Blue community is a commitment to safeguard the public water infrastructure, which includes more water fountains, better maintenance of water fountains, etc. There are also many ways, through community events, etc to hand out reusable water bottles.
I work in the tourism industry in Victoria and I think that tourists are a huge problem when it comes to the sale of bottled water. They purchase flats of bottled water, sometimes 24 bottles at a time. Most tourists also throw the bottles in the garbage can and don’t understand our recycling system or our bottle deposits. Very few tourists know that Victoria’s water is drinkable, and I think that part of the blue community initiative is to have tourist businesses in Victoria inform their patrons of the drinkability (?) of Victoria tap water, as well as how to recycle.
While on the subject of easy access to fresh tap water, how many working fountains are there in the city of Victoria for the public to use? Last I heard there were less than 40 in the entire region, and less than a handful of those were actually working.
The less plastic (bottled water) the better, but let’s make sure there are easily accessible solutions at the same time! A list of the working fountains overlayed on a google map would take less than an afternoon to implement, and I’m sure we would all find it useful! (provide me the location data, and I’ll do it for no cost and make it public)
Kris:
Great idea on the mapping. Part of the deal of becoming a blue community is for the city to promote its public infrastructure. We’ll take the mapping idea to the city, and we’ll keep pressure on the city to provide more water fountains, absolutely essential.
[…] Ask The City of Victoria to Say NO! To Nestle | Council of … How about consumers drink our high quality tap water from the fountains at the pool? It is more important than ever to not let Nestle have the only say here. Remember to contact the Mayor and Council and let them know […]