Bottle Water Free Day a success

By Maggie Cameron

Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:26

Thousands of Canadians are saying no to bottled water today, taking part in Canada’s first Bottled Water Free Day.

Canadians are standing up against bottled water and choosing the fountain today.
In an effort to raise awareness about the negative environmental, economic and health impacts of bottled water, the day was organized by the Canadian Federation of Students, the Polaris Institute and the Sierra Youth Coalition.

“Students are really standing up against (bottled water),” Noah Stewart, spokesperson for the Canadian Federation of Students, told TheDailyPlanet.com

Stewart said raising awareness about the negative impacts of bottled water is important, but today is also intended to address diminishing public water facilities on campuses across the country and institutions’ growing reliance on bottled water.

“Pepsi and Coca-Cola have purchasing agreements with campuses,”Laura Read, a spokesperson for Sierra Youth Coalition, told TheDailyPlanet.com.

“It’s actually more difficult for people to find water fountains then it is to buy water from a vending machine.  So this means that companies like Pepsi and Coke are receiving a 2,000 per cent mark up on the price of water, which is normally taken from a tap locally anyways,” said Read.

Over 60 campuses are participating across the country in Bottled Water Free Day.

Ryerson University signed a declaration today pledging to ban the sale of bottled water on campus, making them the first bottled water free campus in the province.

“We believe that access to water is a basic human right, and part of addressing the harmful water taking practices and the commodification of water is necessary in working for a more sustainable community,” Read said.

“We have high quality water coming out of the tap down the hall from your office or down the hall from your classroom,” Stewart said.  Despite this, companies are spending millions of dollars marketing the idea that we should be drinking bottled water added Stewart.

“At the end, it’s the consumers who are paying for that so it ends up costing between 240 and 10,000 times the cost of getting water from your tap,” said Stewart.

Both Read and Stewart agree the negative impact bottled water has on the environment is significant.

“Removing large amounts of water from an ecosystem is permanently damaging, and then the resources required to ship it and package it are also very harmful,” Read said.

So far, the organizations that arranged the day are pleased with the outcome.

“The day has exceeded our expectations,” Stewart said.  “I think the event has certainly been a huge success and I think it will continue on in the future.