WRDSB: Environmental Awareness Committee

The Water Project, part of Westminster United Church, attempts to raise awareness of water issues in the Waterloo area by offering free refills for water bottles at public events. We set up large coolers of ice water for anyone who wants it, and, for those who don’t have their own refillable bottles, we offer paper cups.

So far, we have held Water Projects events at the 150^th Anniversary Celebration for the City of Waterloo, the 2007 Busker Festival, and the 2008 Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, and plans for other events are in the works.

In addition, we distribute information on the environmental, economic, and social costs of bottled water, and on the safety of tap water, and discuss these issues with interested water consumers.

Conflicting WRDSB bottled water policy?

Within the minutes of the May 25, 2009 WRDSB Board is the following future agenda item notice:

b) Trustee C. Watson served notice of motion, as follows:

“Whereas the elimination of bottled water could force students to choose sugary

substitutes that could contribute to obesity and weight gain, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high blood cholesterol, increased dental cavities, dehydration, and hyperactivity; and

Whereas over the past 25 years the prevalence of overweight and obese Canadian children has more than doubled and is now a public health concern; and

Whereas within the Waterloo Wellington area almost one-third of children aged 6-12 are overweight or obese; and

Whereas a comprehensive education plan concerning bottled water use and healthy alternatives needs to be developed;

Therefore be it resolved that the previous motion concerning a bottled water ban be amended to allow staff to develop a plan that would reduce the use of bottled water

And that staff also develop educational strategies and healthy alternatives that would help shift school culture from the use of bottled water to healthy alternatives and that this plan include consultation with students, parent councils, and staff

And that this report be presented to the Board before December 2009.”

However, according to the committee of the whole minutes from June 10 2009,

“The motion on the books to eliminate bottled water by September 2009 remains in effect.”

And further, as clarified by a trustee in these minutes:

“The Board is not banning people from bringing bottled water to school. Instead, the Board is eliminating the purchase and sale of bottled water at its facilities.”

Unfortunately, the board then carried the motion:

That consideration by the Waterloo Region District School Board of the report titled “Elimination of the Purchase and Sale of Bottled Water” be postponed to the Board meeting scheduled for June 22, 2009.

Regrettably, the board did not issue any media releases to keep the public informed or to clarify its stance in these matters, choosing instead to notify parents through the schools. As well, at time of this writing (August 17 2009) the June 22 minutes are not yet available on the WRDSB web site. So, it would seem it will be after the September 2009 deadline before we learn if the policy will be upheld.

Water Project Notes for Waterloo Regional Council Wed. Sept. 17, 2008

My name is John Lougheed, and I am a Voluntary Associate Minister at Westminster United Church in Waterloo. I want to begin by commending the Planning and Works Committee of the Region for its unanimous recommendation to this Council to restrict the sale and provision of bottled water at Regional facilities and functions, on the basis of the thoughtful Staff report - and debate at the Committee meeting - last Tuesday. This recommendation includes an acknowledgement that tap water must be reasonably available for refillable containers, and puts an emphasis on public education about the high quality of municipal tap water; tested as it is to higher standards than bottled water.

Since the Spring of 2007, the Water Project of Westminster United Church in Waterloo has sought to offer a local voice of awareness and concern about the commodification of water; specifically to emphasize the higher quality of municipal tap water, as well as the high price and ecological cost of bottled water. Though much has been said about the problem of so many individual plastic bottles that are not recycled – and improvements can be made, even more so in partnership with the bottling companies - the issue is the water in the bottles. The Region of Waterloo provides municipal tap water for the common good, and rightfully sees the irony of offering an alternative; as if to say, “if you don’t like our product, we’ll sell you someone else’s!” But this issue runs even deeper than irony.

As the first School Board in Ontario to do so, the Waterloo Region District School Board has already realized what we are teaching our children about ethics, the environment, and marketing by pretending that convenience trumps conscience; that what they pay for in a vending machine isn’t ‘worth’ thousands of times more than what they could obtain in a fountain.

In Regional facilities, local schools, and for emergency personnel – among many others of us - the issue of choice is about bringing a refillable container, rather than switching to a drink that is less healthy than water. It is not as if pop and juice flow from the fountains in this – or any building! – safe municipal tap water does! And chlorine dissipates when tap water is left standing in a fridge for a day, for those concerned.

While we acknowledge that there need to be some exceptions in rural settings where safe municipal tap water is not readily available, along with many other faith traditions we contend that truly pure water is a source and an important symbol of life … rather than a source of disproportionate profits and ecological damage. As Richard Rohr has said : “While we can’t think ourselves into new ways of living, we can live ourselves into new ways of thinking.” It was true for second hand smoke (which this Region was also a leader in restricting). It is past time for bottled water.

Mindful of many other pressing issues for our dynamic and innovative community, I encourage this Council to endorse the recommendation on restricting the sale and provision of bottled water at Regional facilities and functions, to emphasize more public education about the higher quality of municipal tap water, and to move on! Thank you for your consideration and leadership.

[the following is the presentation made to the Environment Advisory Committee of the Waterloo Region District School Board, Tuesday, March 18, 2008 by Rev John Lougheed and Rev Dr Marsha Cutting]

Introduction Rev John Lougheed

Since the Spring of 2007, the Water Project group here at Westminster has sought to offer a local voice of awareness and concern about the commoditization of water; specifically to emphasize the high quality of municipal tap water, and the high price and ecological cost of bottled water.

We have attended several large public events – including the City of Waterloo 150^th celebrations, and the Uptown Waterloo Buskers Festival – and provided hundreds of free cups of cool, refreshing tap water and water bottle refills, as well as copies of brochures available from the bulletin board area. It has been our experience that children are the most receptive to these offers, even encouraging their parents to take a cup and a brochure.

While we acknowledge that there need to be exceptions for avoiding the use of bottled water – including medical needs and when there is a lack of accessible, safe tap water in some rural settings – along with many other faith traditions, we contend that water is a source and symbol of life … rather than a source of disproportionate profits and ecological damage.

Most recently we were asked to speak to the Environmental Advisory Committee of the Waterloo Region District School Board and the Committee have since recommended to the School Board that it develop a strategy to stop the sale and purchase of water bottles in all their schools by January 2009. Meanwhile, Westminster will stop selling bottled water at our booth at the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival and instead will provide cups and refills of tap water. We’ll also be encouraging our partners at Temple Shalom to join us in making The Cedars a ‘bottle free’ zone!

Presentation Rev Dr Marsha Cutting

I would like to raise questions with you about what are we teaching our children through the use of bottled water. (Much of the material I will be sharing with you is taken from three sources: Tony Clarke’s book, Inside the Bottle—An expose of the Bottled Water Industry, from an article in the May 2007 issue of Vanity Fair titled The Rise of Big Water, and from the cover story of the May 14, 2007, issue of Maclean’s titled Bottled Water is the Latest Environmental Sin.

First, what are we teaching our children about stewardship of the earth?

88% of bottles are not recycled, and end up in landfills—one report indicates that recycling rates for plastic bottles have been steadily declining since 1995, which the use of plastic bottles has been expanding rapidly.
Even for those that are recycled, resources are consumed to collect and recycle them. Jon Arsenault, the Waterloo region’s manager of engineering and programs, was quoted in the Record on July 13 of last year as saying our recycling program has been inundated with individual-sized plastic water bottles, which “does somewhat complicate the recycling side of things.” This is because the recycling equipment is designed to handle mostly 2-litre bottles, not smaller ones.
Creating the bottles also unnecessarily uses resources, particularly since the bottled water companies are not living up to their promises to use more recycled materials in making the bottles. This may be because recycled plastic costs 65% more than fresh plastic resin.
It actually requires more water to produce the container for bottled water than the bottle itself will hold.

Then, what are we teaching our children about science and health?

Bottled water companies advertise that their water is pure and safe, and yet it only has to meet standards that are much lower than those that apply to tap water.
One of the treatment processes for bottled water uses bromate, which is considered a carcinogen, and when Coca-Cola launched it’s Dasani product in the UK in March of 2004, it had to withdraw nearly a half million bottles due to bromate contamination.
Other peer-reviewed scientific studies have found disturbing concentrations of toxic ingredients such as arsenic and mercury in bottled water.
The bottles that contain bottled water are made from a volatile material (PET). These bottles should not be refilled because of the risks of PET leaching and bacterial growth. However when we sell bottled water rather than encouraging people to use refillable bottles made from more stable materials, the PET bottles are likely to end up being refilled.

Next, what are we teaching our children about the importance of the common welfare?

The bottled water industry’s marketing of “safe, clean water” undermines citizens’ confidence in public water systems, and paves the way for water companies to take over under-funded public utilities.
Peter Huck, a professor of civil engineering and a drinking water expert at the University of Waterloo, was quoted in the June 13 issue of the Record as saying that the growing trend toward bottled water has some in the drinking water industry experts concerned it may mean consumers are less willing to pay for costly upgrades to water treatment plants.

And, what are we teaching our children about economics?

Estimates from the US National Resources Defense Council are that bottled water is between 240 and 10,000 times more expensive than tap water, even though bottled water from some companies (Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani) comes from municipal water systems. Bottled water can cost more than gasoline.
Under pressure from the European Union and international banks, governments in 93 countries have begun to privatize their drinking-water services.
Today about 10 percent of the world’s population gets its water from private water companies.
In Cochabamba, Bolivia’s third-largest city, when water was privatized, water bills increased up to 200 percent and sometimes even higher.
In one Chinese village, water supplied by a private company costs an average household about $4 a month, while the average household income is $20-$30 a month. The water quality is so poor that it must be boiled before it is used.
In another Chinese city, the Vanity Fair reporter found people who were paying a quarter of their income for water.

Finally, what are we teaching our children about evaluating advertising and being discerning consumers?

Ten years ago, most people drank water from municipal water systems. Today, close to a fifth of the Canadian population drinks bottled water exclusively. I think that that is because the bottled water companies promote bottled water as a status item, as a convenience item, and as a healthy alternative to other beverages.
In addition, bottled water companies sign exclusive beverage contracts with some school, colleges, & universities that given the companies long-term access to students, with the opportunity to influence them to become life-long consumers of their products.

PostlogueRev John Lougheed

I mentioned that children ‘get it’ that water is an environmental issue. So much so that CBC Radio featured interviews with some Canadian children just last week. When asked if he blamed adults for the lack of water conservation, a twelve year old boy answered “they didn’t really know, but we do”. (“As It Happens”, Mar. 12/08)

Mindful of the Character Education consultation that the Province is encouraging - and this Board is pursuing, along with the ECO Schools Program - we found the insights from the Grade 11 leaders of a water project at Greenwood College School in Toronto to be very helpful. Still a work in progress, that project team has sought to work closely with School administrators, as well as maintenance and catering staff, to raise awareness and reduce consumption of bottled water. By means of:

education that safety standards for tap water are higher than for bottled water
offering water refills at refrigerated fountains; already a ‘pop free zone’, juice refills are also being explored to reduce the number of those bottled drinks too.

monitoring the reduction of recycling and garbage pick-ups related to bottles and other packaging
encouraging the study of environmental impacts of bottled water as a science or math project

Though the 12 year old boy in the recent CBC Radio interview gave adults the benefit of the doubt that “they didn’t really know” about water conservation issues, the fact is we all do! The question remains what response will be made, as well as nurtured in and by the next generation of leaders. We commend the Waterloo Region District School Board and its Environmental Awareness Committee for being willing to wrestle with – and even develop a strategy and take a leadership role in – this important issue. Afterall, as Richard Rohr has said: “While we can’t think ourselves into new ways of living, we can live ourselves into new ways of thinking.”

With the exceptions noted for medical and rural needs, the commoditization and environmental impact of bottled water may well be the ‘canary in the coal mine’ of much larger and more serious issues with water: a source and symbol of life.