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There was a time, not that long ago, when
we all drank from water fountains and thought nothing of it. And
those days may be coming back again sooner than you might think, as
municipalities, school boards, and even church groups take aim at
what may be well on its way to becoming a thing of the past —
bottled water.
On Monday, the city of London, Ont., voted
to ban the sale of bottled water on city premises, becoming the
latest entity to join the anti-bottled water crusade. A number of
Canadian universities have already become “no bottle”
zones, and many school boards across the country are considering
eliminating bottled water from their properties.
It may sound like a totalitarian move, but
there are lots of reasons why bottled water needs to be phased out.
Bottled water is something of a ridiculous commodity anyway, with
companies like Coca-Cola basically just buying tap water in bulk,
repackaging it, and selling it at a huge markup.
Then there are the environmental concerns.
It burns a lot of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport bottled
water, never mind the thousands of bottles that end up in the
landfill instead of the recycling bin.
But there are issues of economic justice
here as well, which is part of the reason the United Church of
Canada has already asked its members to stop purchasing bottled
water. According to the church’s reasoning, it’s
unethical for companies to try to convince people on fixed incomes
that their tap water is unsafe and they need to spend $10 to $15 a
week on cases of bottled water.
In countries like Mexico and Brazil, tap
water really is unsafe to drink. And in those countries, because
everyone but the very poorest drinks bottled water, municipalities
don’t seem to feel the need to improve their water systems.
Here in Canada, however, the majority of us are fortunate to have
safe, clean, drinking water straight from the tap. When we have
something like that available to all, why would we support
privatizing it and selling it at a markup to a privileged few?
As environmental awareness grows and the
“ban the bottle” movement spreads, don’t be
surprised if bottled water — a fixture of today’s
society — rapidly becomes a thing of the past.
Tomorrow’s schoolchildren will likely be completely
unfamiliar with bottled water — and they will likely be
shocked to learn their parents used to plug $1.75 into a vending
machine to get the same thing they’re getting for free from
the water fountain down the hall.
Amanda Stephenson is a News reporter.
E-mail her at
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