Council heard this week from 13-year-old Robyn Hamlyn, a Kingston native who’s on a provincewide trek to speak about the Council of Canadians / Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Blue Communities Project. The admirable young woman has taken on this crusade— she visited Mayor Chris Friel over the March break and is asking council to endorse the resolutions included in the project. There are tens of councils across Ontario (keeping in mind there are over 440 municipalities in this province) that have gone whole-hog and become Blue Communities.
The trio of resolutions calls on council to declare its support for access to clean drinking water a human right, banning the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities and at public events and promoting publicly financed, owned and operated water and sewer services.
Number one is an easy, motherhood and apple pie kind of statement. The third, depending on the city, gets tricky too. Ownership of public assets is one thing, but in a heavily regulated post-Walkerton environment, a private operator who costs less may be the better way to go since regardless of operator the regs don’t change.
The bottled-water ban is where things start to get tricky. This is not the first time Brantford council has been asked this question and it has refrained to this point. There are many things about a bottled-water ban that aren’t as easy as they seem (convenience, preference, etc.) and that won’t necessarily change behaviour. I like tap water and while I won’t turn down bottled water if offered, I don’t buy it and live the reusable water-bottle culture where possible.
The city should consider leading by example (Woodstock took this principle a number of years ago) and be the biggest advocate of its tap water, without taking away choice and the opportunity to educate from its facilities and events. Offer only tap water at city hall for meetings. Install bottle-friendly taps/spigots on all water fountains in public facilities. Offer running tap water at community events instead of only having bottled water for sale.
Banning bottled water — for all the right reasons — becomes a nanny state move. People should be educated to why tap water is better and then left to make their own decisions.
Categories: Brantford
Brantford
Hugo
I wish that I could agree with you & this 13 year old child. However after over a decade of researching water, I can not.
This child has been manipulated by these special interest groups to help push their agenda. Even the Expositor is complicit in this manipulation, as I posted 5 comments to a March 14, 2012 Expositor article titled “Bottled water to be phased out at county facilities”. The Expositor side article was subsequently removed after I commented, the Simcoe Reformer version still exists.
The Expositor is not alone, most media outlets in Canada refuse to allow for debate on the subject of bottled water versus tap water. The G&M is another prime example, whenever they publish articles of this nature & comments appear to the contrary, they bury the article to prevent people from getting educated with the real facts.
You suggest people should educate themselves as to why tap water is better. Well I have done more research than just about anyone & can tell you straight out tap water (potable water) is not fit for human consumption. I can even back up that statement with authoritative evidence. I provided such evidence on the Expositor article & still the article & comments were removed.
Helios:
Your belief we’re stifling debate on this is misplaced. Provided you respect the terms of service in your comments, debate away. This is an issue that can, has and will continue to inflame people.
From my point of view, I’ve spent a lifetime drinking tap water in various communities across Ontario with no ill effects. Since Walkerton, the regulatory regime surrounding water has only stiffened, some to the better.
I don’t buy bottled water. As stated above though, I don’t believe banning is the best way to re-educate.
Hugo
Hugo
The Walkerton incident is really a non-issue for myself, I agree e coli is serious & much has been done to help prevent a repeat. The issues I refer to which makes tap water (potable water) unfit to ingest, is water chlorination & water fluoridation. They are the two main processes involved in the treatment of Brantford tap water & the tap water in many communities across the country.
It is widely known & well documented that both of these treatments cause cancers. Health Canada is also well aware of the health risks associated with both treatment processes. Health Canada approves of water chlorination on the basis of the utilitarian ethical theory of “the needs of the many, outweight the needs of the few”. Water chlorination is not a bad thing, it’s the least expensive means of getting water to our homes without contamination from cryptosporidium (oocysts), giardia & e coli, you just shouldn’t drink the water unless boiled or properly filtered first.
The majority of bottled water brands are free of both chlorine & fluoride. Only bottled water from municipal water supplies contain both chlorine & fluoride unless filtered out. Health Canada strictly regulates the bottled water industry & has put to rest pretty much all the myths floating around regarding bottled water.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/chlor-eng.php
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/food-aliment/bottled-embouteillee-eng.php
Water fluoridation is far more complex but I will say this much now. Water fluoridation does not prevent tooth decay, that is a myth. A topical application of fluoride from a dentist helps to strengthen tooth enamel, but even that does not prevent tooth decay.
Woops, Helios— your comment went into the spam filter and I only noticed it today.
Posted above as you see.
My only question to your points (which was the same one I had in 2007-09 when lead in water supplies was all the rage) is that if people have been consuming these toxic, cancerous chemicals for decades, where’s the damage?
Where are the legions and legions of people with cancers whose incidence is proven to be tied back to the chlorines and fluorides added to municipal water systems? Cancer’s the epidemic it is, but there are so many other causes that are found to be its root.
I asked similar question on lead at the time— if the levels present are really so bad, where’s the epidemiological data with the causal link?
Hugo