Student Action

Canada: Canadian students mark World Water Day by turning back to the tap

Attention News Editors:

Canadian Students Mark World Water Day by Turning Back to the Tap
Bottled Water Free Zones Established Across Canada

OTTAWA, March 18 /CNW Telbec/ - The Polaris Institute, the Sierra Youth
Coalition, and the Canadian Federation of Students are uniting to launch a
campaign to raise awareness about corporate control over public water systems.
"The ultimate goal of this campaign is to challenge the corporate control
of water, as embodied by bottled water, one space at a time," said Andrea
Harden, a bottled water campaigner with the Polaris Institute. "In the case of
campuses, this can start with a students' union or group deciding not to sell
or distribute bottled water in their office or at events and encouraging
others to follow suit. Ultimately, students will approach college and
university administrators to end the sale of bottled water on campuses."
Students have chosen World Water Day (WWD) as a key public event for the
campaign launch because the day has become increasingly commercialized. Faced
with rising opposition, the bottled water industry has attempted to use WWD to
promote their social responsibility campaigns and wash away their image as
major private water-takers promoting environmentally destructive products. By
participating in the official launch of this campaign, Canadian students are
helping to bring WWD back to its roots.
"By engaging their campuses to establish bottled water free zones,
students are using their power to challenge the privatization of one of our
most basic human rights, water, and showing their commitment to making
sustainability a core value of their campus communities," said Monique
Woolnough, Ontario Sustainable Campuses Coordinator.
Bottled water free zones are created when policies are put into place
ending the sale and distribution of bottled water and steps are taken to
encourage the consumption of tap water and raise awareness about the problems
with the bottle water industry. This includes exposing the negative
environmental and social impacts of bottled water. Environmental impacts
include the use of fossil fuels to make plastic bottles, the release of toxic
chemicals during the production of the bottles, contributing to global warming
in the transportation of bottled water and increasing plastic waste. Social
impacts include using manipulative marketing campaigns to undermine confidence
in tap water and public water systems. The bottled water industry has been so
successful that people pay more for a litre of bottled water than they pay for
a litre of gasoline.
"Students are at the forefront of the fight against the privatization of
public resources," said Amanda Aziz, National Chairperson of the Canadian
Federation of Students. "Establishing bottled water free zones is an easy and
effective way of resisting water privatization and promoting sustainable
alternatives."
In addition to creating bottled water free zones, several Canadian
college and university campuses will feature water awareness activities this
week such as blind taste tests of bottled water versus tap water and 'towers
of consumption' built from empty water bottles.

The Inside the Bottle campaign is a Polaris Institute project designed to
stimulate citizen awareness about the bottled water industry. The Sierra Youth
Coalition's Sustainable Campuses project aims to empower students to lead
initiatives on their campuses toward greater social, ecological and economic
sustainability through changes to campus operations, curricula and culture.
The Canadian Federation of Students represents over one half million Canadian
students and provides them with an effective and untied voice, provincially
and nationally.

Campus Bottled Water Free Zones
University of Ottawa, Ontario
Department of Geography
Women's Resource Centre
Student Federation of the University of Ottawa's office and meetings
Institute of the Environment
Department of Biology
Physical Resource Services
1848, undergraduate campus pub
Café Nostalgica, graduate pub
Oxfam University of Ottawa
Green Campus

University of PEI
Environmental and Sustainability Society

Concordia, Quebec
TAPthirst
QPIRG Concordia
Sustainable Concordia

Memorial University, Newfoundland
MUN Students for Sustainability Coalition

Brock University, Ontario
OPIRG-Brock

Guelph University, Ontario
College of Biological Science-Student Council
Graduate Engineering Society
NDP Youth, Guelph
Engineers Without Borders, (EWB)
Ontario Public Interest Research Group, (OPIRG- Guelph)
The Peak, magazine on campus
Guelph student for the ethical treatment of animals (GSETA)
Guelph Engineering Society (undergraduate student club)
Ecohouse (Campus residence)
Environmental Sciences Student Executive
CFRU 93.3 FM, campus radio station
Guelph Students for Ethical Treatment of Animals (GSETA)
Muslim Students Association

Sir Sandford Fleming College, Ontario
Sustainability Office, Frost campus

Waterloo University, Ontario
University of Waterloo Sustainability Project
Waterloo Public Interest Group

Trent University, Ontario
Trent Central Students Association office

Ryerson University, Ontario
Working Students' Centre, Ryerson Students' union

University of Winnipeg
University of Winnipeg Students' Association's Soma Café
Ecological Males and Females In Action (EcoMAFIA)

University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba Students' Union office

Langara College, BC
Langara College Student's Association office

Queen's University, Ontario
Tea Room

Thompson Rivers University, BC
Tru Eco Committee

George Brown College, Ontario
Student association and faculty environmental group are considering a
resolution to become zones later this month

For further information: Andrea Harden, Bottled Water Campaigner,
Polaris Institute, (613) 237-1717 ext. 102, andi@polarisinstitute.org,
www.insidethebottle.org; Monique Woolnough, Ontario Sustainable Campuses
Coordinator, Sierra Youth Coalition, (416) 537-3616, (647) 637-7063,
ontario@syc-cjs.org, www.syc-cjs.org/sustainable; Ian Boyko, Campaigns and
Government Relations Coordinator, Canadian Federation of Students, (613)
261-7939, www.cfs-fcee.ca/sustainability