Community & Labour Action

Report questions Smiths Falls bottled-water plant

Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun, 17th June 2009 - An advocacy group warns that a new bottled water plant at the former Hershey’s property in Smiths Falls might not be sustainable.

In a report released Wednesday, the Polaris Institute questions the source of the water being bottled by Aquablue Spring Water International, which took over the facility at the beginning of the month.

The report argues that Canadians aren’t drinking as much bottled water and are instead drinking more tap water.

“Across the country, municipalities, school boards, universities, faith-based organizations, restaurants and private enterprises have decided to stand up for Canada’s public water services by phasing out the provision and sale of bottled water,” the report says.

Tom Ondrejicka, director of marking and communications for Aquablue, said the company would respond to the report at a press conference Thursday in Smiths Falls.

Water management and bottled water have been major focuses for the Polaris Institute, which further argues “the future prospects and serious health and environmental impacts of the bottled water industry should raise alarm bells for the Town of Smiths Falls.”

Aquablue has not yet said how many people will be working at the Smiths Falls plant or where the water will be coming from locally. The company has been using a source on Vancouver Island for its water.

On its website, Aquablue says it’s in negotiations for “several large water supply contracts around the world.”

About 1,500 jobs have been lost in Smiths Falls since the closing of Hershey’s, the Rideau Regional Centre and Stanley Works.

A report by the International Bottled Water Association indicates the per-capita consumption of bottled water in the U.S. decreased last year for the first time in a decade. Canada didn’t even crack the top 20 countries with the highest per-capita bottled water consumption in 2008, according to the association’s report.