Legislative Action

Departments buy bottled when tap water available: Environment Canada one of the big spenders

Glen McGregor, The Ottawa Citizen, September 17, 2009 - Despite mounting opposition to the use of plastic water bottles, the federal government spent at least $5 million over the past five years to buy water in locations already served by safe public drinking supply, government records show.

Environment Canada was among the departments or agencies that spent the most on bottled or jugged water, running up a bill of more than $628,000 since 2003, according to data tabled in the House of Commons this week.

Environmental groups have denounced bottled water as a waste of energy, bad for the environment and no safer than tap water in most communities. Dozens of municipalities across Canada have placed restrictions on the sale of bottled water, with Halifax this week joining the list by prohibiting the sale at its city hall.

But spending on water where there are safe alternatives continues to rise in the federal government, up about 70 per cent since 2003, the figures show. “It’s a huge waste of taxpayers dollars,” said New Democrat MP Bruce Hyer, who asked the government to provide the spending data. “This is really a dumb thing. It’s environmentally bad, and it’s culturally and attitudinally bad.” Hyer notes that Ottawa, the nexus of the federal government, has an excellent municipal water supply that is tested regularly.

Bottled water can include phthalates and other potentially toxic chemicals used in the production of plastic, while the cost of bottling and shipping the bottles or jugs for water coolers consumes huge amounts of energy, he says, and the empty bottles can end up in land-fills.

Hyer had previously asked for data on all water purchases, but the figure of $15 million the government provided also included supplies to areas without potable water. Hyer refined his question and the government this week tabled detailed records itemizing how much money each department and federal agency spent on water bottles and water coolers in areas with safe public drinking water.

It showed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s department, the Privy Council Office, spent more than $71,000 since he took office. In notes included in the documents, the PCO said the age of the plumbing and the requirement to remove water fountains from the 15 buildings in which it has offices required the move to water coolers. The office said it didn’t buy single-serving bottles.

Several departments said they were unable to calculate the cost of their bottled water use. Others reported no spending on bottled water at all. Environment Canada said while some of its bottled water was purchased for field work or for use in laboratory experiments, the majority was used in facilities with potable water.

Spokeswoman Paula Franchellini said Environment Canada discourages bottled water use where there is a clean supply from the tap, but noted there had been incidents of unsafe drinking water at two departmental buildings, Place Vincent Massey and Les Terrasses de la Chaudière, both in Gatineau. These have since been resolved.

In addition to the $5.3 million figure calculated by the Citizen from the documents, Indian and Northern Affairs spent another $3.4 million on bottled water. Of this, about $3.3 million was for emergency water supplies for First Nations communities. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions explained that, in 2003, it installed water coolers for employee use to “promote a healthier lifestyle from drinking coffee and soft drinks.”

The Canada Revenue Agency partially explained its $155,000 in spending on water by noting that one of its warehouses in Ontario has no water fountains, so it spends about $3,000 annually on commercial water coolers.

Government shouldn’t be wasting money on bottled water when it could be improving systems to provide ongoing supply of water on First Nations communities or in its own facilities, says Joe Cressy, of the Polaris Institute, which is leading a campaign against bottles and helped Hyer prepare his question.

“The government of Canada has an absolutely appalling practice of spending millions of dollars on a wasteful product instead of investing in a long-term alternative, the public tap,” Cressy says.

“The government of Canada is pouring money literally down the drain.”