Could 2019 be the year? The Bottled Water Issue

By Eric Schiller

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Happy New Year to you all. Yes, I said happy, but I know that for many in the world, the coming year will not be too happy a prospect. We still have wars, civil conflicts, disease and growing inequality. So why concentrate on tackling the bottled water problem?

Because;

• The problem is so outrageous, and it is right in front of us. Many people are now drinking their water in single-use plastic bottles at a cost that far exceeds that of gasoline.
• These throw-away plastic bottles are destroying our environment. Landfills are filling up with them. The ocean, the last refuge for waste, is filling up and threatening marine life there.(see above)
• And finally, for those of us in the developed world,  the solution is right in front of us – staring us in the face. Excellent municipal tap water is available at a cost of less than 1/1000  of the cost of bottled water.

What is the solution here? As usual it is a question of supply and demand. On the supply side there are corporations who are making a killing selling us this bottled water. They often get the water out of the tap themselves, or they take it from groundwater sources, paying only a ridiculously low extraction fee. These corporations are Coca Cola (Dasani), Pepsi Cola (Aquafina), Nestle, Naya, Eksa and now Tim Hortons has also jumped on the gravy train (see photo above). 

The way to influence these corporations is by influencing the demand side – i.e. the many consumers who buy their products. This is where dramatic public pressure is needed to alert people about this problem. Another pressure point is the supplier of our well regulated, high quality tap water. Our municipal water supply system needs to get more aggressive about promoting their own tap water. A part of this will be speaking out and acting against the sale of single-use plastic water bottles in their own municipal buildings.

The statistics show that the sales of bottled water are still increasing. These trends can be stopped. The year 2019 could be the year that this pattern changes. Plan to come and join us in this effort. We will be receiving all constructive ideas on Wednesday, Jan. 16,  2019 at 7pm at St. Paul University (95 Clegg St. entrance),

We hope to see you then!