Legislative Action

Ottawa's bottled water bill tops $15-million over the past five years: Globe and Mail

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
Globe and Mail Update
April 29, 2009

The federal government has spent $15.7-million over the past five years to slake the thirst of its employees for bottled water, including staff in the prison system, bureaucrats at Environment Canada, and mandarins in the Privy Council Office.

The outlay is being assailed by groups opposed to bottled water use in non-emergency situations, who say the government is spending large amounts of money, even though many federal sites, such as the Prime Minister's Privy Council Office in the complex of buildings around Parliament Hill, have water fountains readily available.

“It is absolutely a waste of taxpayers' money,” said Joe Cressy, spokesman for the Polaris Institute, an Ottawa-based public policy group that wants governments to curb their purchases of the product.

Although bottled water is one of the most popular beverages in the country, it has provoked a storm of controversy. Many environmentalists say it creates litter and plastic packaging that ends up in dumps. Other critics claim the product undermines municipal water systems.

The figures were issued by the privy council Wednesday after NDP MP Bruce Hyer asked the government to divulge bottled water expenditures by department from 2004 to the end of the 2008 budget year.

The government release coincided with a separate report on federal contracts for bottled water compiled by the Polaris Institute and also issued yesterday.

The Polaris data showed that the Correctional Services of Canada was a big buyer, with several contracts for $50,000 worth of bottled water billed in Kingston, a location of a federal prison.

The report from the privy council said no information was available on bottled water spending in the prison system, even though the data is publicly available on a government website, indicating the spending figures issued by Ottawa probably underestimate bottled water purchases.

But the records that were available show bottled water use is widespread, although there was one year that the Finance Department was parsimonious and didn't spend anything on bottled water and another year when spent only $12.

Environment Canada, by contrast, has been shelling out $111,000 to $150,000 a year for water. The privy council, which serves as the advisory group to the prime minister, has been spending $25,000 to $37,000 a year.

“It's insane to be doing bottled water these days,” Mr. Hyer said in an interview. “Drinking water is safe in most urban areas of Canada and that's what we should be drinking.”

He said the money would be better spent trying to improve drinking water systems on First Nations, where there are currently dozens of boil water advisories.

Mr. Cressy said his group tried to find out from the government if some of the expenditures were in areas where water was unsafe or, unavailable, such as on military operations, but was unable to get an explanation.

Federal officials weren't immediately able to comment to reporters on the reason for the purchases.