Editors Note; This is a copy of the letter sent to John Labatt Centre. A copy of their response to the Council of Canadians and then the Council's response back will follow this article.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Dear executives of John Labatt Centre,

Re: Single Use Bottled Water An opportunity for JLC to demonstrate corporate leadership and environmental responsibility.

In light of the JLC sending close to 90,000 plastic water bottles to our landfill last year alone, we hope that John Labatt Centre will announce to the citizens of London a decision to completely embrace this challenge setting the bar high for other facilities to follow.

Water is the most precious and essential source of human health and survival. To deny a person access to clean and safe water is to deny him/her the right to live.

To many Canadians the previous statement may appear slightly overdramatic as most have never experienced the devastating effects of a water shortage or water contamination.

However, educated Canadians and those who travel to third world countries know very well that when people (through lack of choice) drink dirty and contaminated water, they become seriously ill and/or die.

The United Nations Development Program studies show that more than 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.8 million children in the world die as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.

These alarming facts have led the United Nations and many human advocacy organizations, such as Amnesty International, to urge the international community to recognize the right to water as a fundamental human right.

Unfortunately, under the leadership of the Harper government, Canada has opposed all attempts to enshrine the right to water. Consequently, all of us who support this cause have come to the conclusion that this movement must begin at the local level.

We therefore urge you, to join the councilors of this city, to become leaders in the movement to recognize water as a human right. You have an opportunity to provide the Canadian people with the strong and progressive leadership we so desperately lack in our current federal government.

An important and essential first step was taken by the City of London to ban the sale of single-use bottled water in all city facilities. (See attached Maude Barlow letter addressed to City of London officials) In addition to the vast amount of waste being generated by the use of disposable plastic bottles (eighty-eight percent of which end up in landfills), there are a multitude of reasons why the city has chosen to no longer sell bottled water. These reasons include:

In both the production and disposal of single-use plastic water bottles, highly toxic chemicals (i.e. ethylene oxide, benzene and xylenes) are released into the air and water.

Plastic bottles are made from non-renewable resources, such as natural gas and crude oil. It takes close to 17 million barrels of oil to produce the 30 billion water bottles Americans use annually. Put another way, if bottled water did not exist, enough oil would be saved to run 100,000 cars for one year.

Bottled water companies engage in misleading and deceptive marketing schemes that fool people into buying a product that is not what it claims to be. Bottled water is not cleaner and safer than tap water, nor is it obtained from the sources the companies advertise.

Bottled water companies obtain their water from rural springs and public systems. They pay very little or sometimes nothing at all for what they take. Yet, these same companies charge consumers outrageously high prices for their water.

Although bottled water companies claim that their water is “cleaner” and “safer” than tap water, a multitude of studies have proven that this is not the case. (For example, several peer-reviewed scientific studies have found disturbing concentrations of arsenic and mercury in their bottled water samplings.)

Lastly, the final and most important reason to ban the sale of bottled water relates back to our initial argument. As long as water is being sold for a profit, it can never be regarded as a fundamental human right.

Thus, the John Labatt Centre has the opportunity to model corporate citizenship and environmental stewardship to citizens of London, Canada, and the world. The city of London has been recognized globally as leaders of a socially and environmentally progressive policy. We believe the John Labatt Centre would also be recognized and respected by adopting the same policy.

If you accept our request to become leaders of this movement, and voluntarily discontinue the selling of single-use bottled water on your premises, you will be sending a strong message to the people that water is sacred, precious, the source of all life, and therefore, should not be for sale.

Sincerely,
Cory Morningstar President Council of Canadians London Chapter

Sources and further reading:
Barlow, Maude (2007) Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming

Battle for the Right to Water. Toronto: Mclelland and Stewart.

Arnold, Emily and Larsen, Janet, “Bottled Water: Pouring Resources Down the

Drain”:

www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update51.htm

City of Toronto Water: www.toronto.ca/water

Inside the bottle campaign: www.insidethebottle.org

India Resource Centre: www.indiaresource.org

Think Outside the Bottle Campaign: www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org

Wellington Water Watchers: www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca