Community & Labour Action

The politics of bottled water: Kingston Whig Standard

May 12, 2009

A city committee will decide tonight whether to give first approval to a ban on the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities.

The meeting won't be a quiet one as a national citizens' advocacy group and bottled water industry representatives will try to sway the committee with their arguments.

Proponents say the city needs to institute a ban for health and environmental reasons.

"Municipal government is very much about making profound changes in people's lives," said Karl Flecker, a Kingston-based executive with the Polaris Institute who has worked on implementing municipal bottled water bans for the past five years.

"Change can happen."

The president of a bottled water industry lobby group said the reasons for a ban aren't based on fact.

"It's being restricted for politically motivated reasons," said Justin Sherwood, president of Refreshments Canada.

"For environmental symbolism ... to restrict the sale of a product that's portable, convenient and healthy, and the consumer wants to buy, is not a smart thing."

City staff have recommended bottled water sales be phased out at city facilities as contracts expire or are amended, eventually leaving drinking fountains as the only source of potable water. There is also a recommendation to spend $158,000 at 13 facilities to upgrade water fountains.

The ban would also have another cost to the city: a loss in revenue of about $30,000.

The recommendation comes four months after city councillors ordered city staff to find a way to ban the sale of bottled water in city facilities and to promote the municipal water system.

The K-Rock Centre's private operator and city staff running the Grand Theatre each expressed worry about the ban, including safety concerns about allowing people to bring hard plastic or metal containers into the arena or theatre during an event.

Instead, environmental concerns have dominated the debate.

More than 60% of plastic bottles sold are recycled in Kingston, according to the city, so the amount of waste diverted from landfill with the ban may be minimal. The staff report also says that greenhouse gas emissions in Kingston aren't expected to drop precipitously because of the ban.

What may drop, according to the report, is user satisfaction levels with city facilities. Fewer choices for a drink, plus removing the convenience of purchasing bottled water for those who forget to bring their own container, could "result in dissatisfaction ... for some users," the report said.

Sherwood said bottled water leaves a small environmental footprint and doesn't contribute much to landfills.

According to Refreshments Canada, bottled water makes up 0.02% of the waste in Ontario.

Sherwood said if the city wants more people to drink from the tap, they should promote the municipal water system.

"Bottled water doesn't compete with tap water," Sherwood said. "It shouldn't be a question of one or the other. If the City of Kingston wants to promote its tap water, it should.

"We would encourage that. The informed consumer can then make a decision."

According to the Polaris Institute, bottled water takes 2,000 times the amount of energy needed to produce municipal drinking water. The group also says that water-bottling plants, under federal laws, are only inspected, on average, every one to three years, while city facilities are inspected daily.

Flecker said bans in place in 43 municipalities are more than just symbolic. Cumulatively, he said, the reduction in the use of bottled water has an impact on the environmental footprint left behind.

Flecker said that while there is a perception that revenue will be lost with the ban, there are costs that would be avoided, including the cost of having plastic bottles ending up in landfills and electrical costs for vending machines.

Bottled water companies, he said, take their water from local aquifers, although the industry doesn't say from where they draw their water.

"That kind of information should be available," Flecker said.

The environment, infrastructure and transportation policies committee meets at 5 p. m. in the council chamber at City Hall.

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Bottled water

What happens if bottled water is banned at city facilities:

* City would spend $158,000 to upgrade drinking fountains at 13 facilities; $25,000 at City Hall; and $20,000 each for the K-Rock Centre, Centre 70, Memorial Centre and Rideaucrest Home.

* Bottled water would be available in the departure area of Norman Rogers Airport; city police and firefighters would also still be allowed to use bottled water.

* Buildings that don't have "easy access to drinking water" would also be exempt from the ban. The problem is that most city facilities don't meet the criteria for "easy access," according to the staff report, because of "a lack of drinking water fountains or bottle-filling stations."