By Myles Gough
A local advocacy group is urging the City of Ottawa to stop supporting the bottled water industry and to encourage the use of municipal tap water.
The Ottawa Water Study Action Group (OWSAG), which is comprised of environmentally-conscious citizens, has launched a new campaign calling on city officials to ban the distribution of bottled water in all city-owned buildings.
Eric Schiller, a retired water engineering professor and a member of OWSAG, says the people who own the municipal water supply need to start promoting their product.
He says the belief that bottled water is healthier than tap water is a misconception that has been driven by corporate advertisers.
“Bottled water is not inherently better than tap water, in fact it could be worse, and it’s certainly not healthier for the environment,” Schiller says.
A major environmental criticism surrounding bottled water deals with the way containers are both produced and disposed of.
Plastic water bottles are made with natural gas and petroleum, and although they are recyclable, the containers frequently end up in landfills.
Schiller says the use of these non-renewable fossil reserves to make plastic bottles is a huge mismanagement of resources, and calls the sale of bottled water a “scam” because it is forcing customers to pay for a commodity that is virtually free out of the tap.
“What it’s doing to the environment is our real concern,” he says. “And the fact that there’s a better alternative right under our nose is a problem.”
Drawing its water from the Ottawa River, the city produces more than 338 million litres of drinkable water each day, which is distributed to the homes of approximately 750,000 residents.
Michel Chevalier, the city’s manager of customer service, says the quality of municipal water is excellent.
Chevalier says tap water is better regulated than bottled water, and calls the comparison a “different ballgame.”
Elizabeth Griswold, director of the Canadian Bottled Water Association, disagrees.
She says bottled water is held to very high standards, adding that the history of the industry speaks for itself.
“There has never been an illness in Canada due to the consumption of bottled water,” she says. “If there is ever a problem, the product is recalled before it gets to the grocer or into the consumer’s hands.”
Griswold says the OWSAG campaign is misguided.
She says consumers are turning to bottled water, not as a replacement for tap water, but as a healthy alternative to other beverages like soft drinks and alcohol.
Richard Girard, a researcher at the Polaris Institute in Ottawa, which is responsible for the Inside the Bottle campaign, says Griswold’s response reflects the views of the industry she represents.
“That’s the stock response from the industry,” he says.
“What they don’t want you to know is that tap water is their main competition.”
Andrea Harden, a bottled water campaigner with the Polaris Institute, is working in conjunction with OWSAG to collect signatures for its campaign.
Harden says over 300 signatures have been collected, and says she anticipates more in the coming weeks.
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes says she is against bottled water and thinks the campaign is a good way to bring attention to the issue.
Holmes recently called for an inquiry into the presence of bottled water in city-owned buildings, and says she is waiting for city staff to report back with details on how to prevent the continuation of this practice.
While she supports the campaign, Holmes says it is hard to predict how other councillors will respond to the movement.
“Any new idea takes a while,” she says. “Some of my colleagues are a conservative bunch and are not very environmentally friendly.”
Still, Holmes is optimistic and says it is an issue she will not give up on.
A delegation from OWSAG will make a presentation to the planning and environment committee on Dec. 18.