University of Winnipeg bans bottled water

Not only a ban, but upgrading water infrastructure - fountains, etc. - on camps.  Excellent news.

Ze wrote:

I'm very glad they'll be providing the alternative of free water fountains, yeah. Does it strike anyone else as odd to describe that as "upgrading water infrastructure" -- doesn't anyone in admin positions anywhere speak plain English any more?

They speak a special language of university admin-speak, which is used to conceal their evilness.

Well, there used to be another thread on this (in fact, I remember reading about UW's bottle-ban a few months ago) that gives a lot of context to why bottled water is a ludicrous thing to sell to Canadians.

Aside from the fact that a nation that has 25% of the world's fresh water supply would prefer to buy it in a disposable plastic bottle, Nestle (for example) extracts 3.6 million litres of water a day from Aberfoyle, near Guelph and then sells it back to the local citizens. Coca-cola's Dasani bottled brand comes from Pennsylvania taps. As for coke, I don't buy soft drinks, and I'm certainly no fan of the concomitant consumerism in which soft drink culture is a major player, but at least Coke doesn't come out of the goddamn taps for free (yet). If you want to take on the orange juice makers of the world, knock yourself out.

Your example of 'personification' (although you surely mean 'emblematic example' or 'epitomization'), however, is rather tortuous: SUVs typify the automobile industry and the illogical desire of the North American driver because of the sheer scale of their impact. You, however, seem to be concerned about car culture, urban planning, forestry conservation and mass transit--conflating them altogther in a single, fictional example in an effort to vindicate SUV owners. Strange.

Yeah, I get that. And I think it's silly to pay 2 bucks for a bottle of stuff that comes out of my tap for free. But from a purely carbon footprint standpoint since water has a single ingredient, it has less impact than coke where you're shipping in the sugar from one place and the colour from another, etc., etc.

Water fountains are great (I'm one of those people who'll drink from the garden hose, and I usually only want a few sips) but I think we'll have a really hard time convincing germ-o-phobes to use them.  Really, I've never had the sense that bottled water was "forced" on people when a few public places stopped maintaining their drinking fountains.  I think people like the hermetically-sealed, doesn't-taste-funny nature of bottled water.

T.O. babblers:  Brita is (or was) giving away Brita jugs, free gratis, in Dundas Square today.  Thousands of them.

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Water fountains are great (I'm one of those people who'll drink from the garden hose, and I usually only want a few sips) but I think we'll have a really hard time convincing germ-o-phobes to use them. 

I've heard people (well, my kids count as people) say they don't use fountains because of the germs, which I find ridiculous. I still use water fountains, but then, when I worked on rigs and lived in my car at the lease site I'd take sloughwater from the rig water tank, mix it with kool aid and drink it.

I stopped doing that after I saw a guy pee into the water tank, though.

Okay - is water really free when it comes out of the tap?  I find that concept pretty difficult to swallow given the size of my quarterly water bill.  I'm not complaining about having to pay for the service, but the notion that water is free is bogus.  Municipalities and governments (at least in this part of the world) have made pretty heavy investments in water infrastructure.  I just paid a $150 plumbing bill recently and will be paying another one shortly - once the fellow sends me the invoice; this is all to keep the water flowing in my house;  my point - it's not free.

I'm more or less in favour of water bans in places like universities, municipal facilities, public places.  In private places - I'm not in favour - but I am in favour of taxing the heck out of things like bottled water so that the product reflects at least it's true environmental cost once the tax is levied; hey, an even bigger tax would be better.  If the tax is high enough, most people will stop buying bottled water because it'll be easier and less expensive to get it out of the tap.  Yes, it already is less expensive to drink tap water, but I suspect a lot of people find it pretty convenient to keep bottles of water around.  I'll admit; I keep bottled water in my van because it's cheaper than buying drinks on the road and more convenient than stopping at water fountains to line up my 4 kids for refreshment breaks on a road trip.  I've recently purchased half a dozen metal drink containers, however, to try and encourage my kids to drink more water than juice by having a "cool" coloured metal container.  If it wasn't like $4 for 36 bottles of Kirkland water at Costco, but say..... $15 because of environmental taxes, I wouldn't buy it ever, but some people would.  My late dad bought Perrier all the time because he enjoyed it.  He didn't keep it stocked, but always had it at special dinners, if he was working outside somewhere, etc.  He still bought it - but he bought it rarely because of the cost.

I usually carry a reusable water bottle now and hadn't for years.  I started because I got the bottle for free - otherwise, honestly, I would have kept buying the bottled water. My wife found a supplier of inexpensive stainless steel bottles (some co-op) and now we've bought some for everyone.  My only complaint is few places have drinking fountains that can fit a refillable water bottle.

I say raise the taxes on the product as well as ban in places like universities, public facilities, schools.  Then consumption will be cut back drastically - but some people want bottled water - make them pay dearly for it.

Be glad the Man-NDP stopped the conservatives there from privatizing hydroelectric power. Our two bozo old line parties made a total mess of deregulated power in this province.

Youre still enjoying the cheapest commercial and residential power rates in the country with publicly-owned Manitoba Hydro. Meanwhile, millions of Ontarians have no idea what their light bills will be whenever the bills come rolling in for our latest nuclear power expansion megafiasco.

Manitoba is so very environmentally green besides having a limbo-low cost of living. Youre so lucky to have a government that hasnt pawned off the largest driver of electricity rates to private enterprise jackals in that province with respect to Man-Hydro. I'd move there in a heartbeat if it wasnt for the blackflies and cold winters.

Fidel wrote:

Youre still enjoying the cheapest commercial and residential power rates in the country with publicly-owned Manitoba Hydro. Meanwhile, millions of Ontarians have no idea what their light bills will be whenever the bills come rolling in for our latest nuclear power expansion megafiasco.

Manitoba is so very environmentally green besides having a limbo-low cost of living. Youre so lucky to have a government that hasnt pawned off the largest driver of electricity rates to private enterprise jackals in that province with respect to Man-Hydro. I'd move there in a heartbeat if it wasnt for the blackflies and cold winters.

You know, maybe you're right.  We're so lucky we should happily tolerate more publicly subsidized private involvement in energy generation.  After all, we love our public services so much that we should all support more P3s

[url=http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/policy/index.html]Canada needs a National Water Policy[/url]

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Water is vital to people's health and livelihoods. In Canada, there is no national strategy to address urgent water issues and no federal leadership to conserve and protect our water. The Federal Water Policy is over 20 years old and badly outdated. There is a growing list of crises facing our freshwater including contamination, shortages and pressure to export water to the United States through pipelines and diversions.

It is time for the Government of Canada to implement a comprehensive National Water Policy

Since FTA-NAFTA, our rightwing ideologues have been trying to bust Canada into weakly affiliated provinces and territories for marauding multinats to exploit more easily in the absence of strong national leadership. Canada is slowly but surely becoming a rightwing US Libertarian's dream come true. It's time for Canadians to roll up their sleeves and fight for control of their country. It's high noon as far as the struggle for democracy in this country is concerned.

from [url=http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/policy/index.html]Canada needs a National Water Policy[/url]

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The growing crisis of water shortages

Water is essential for all life, but it is a finite resource. Even in Canada, a water-rich nation, one quarter of Canadian municipalities have faced shortages and currently one third rely on groundwater - a resource we have dangerously little data - on to provide for daily needs. Water shortages in the Prairies cost $5 billion in economic damage in 2001 alone. At the same time, Canadians waste a tremendous amount of water every day.

A new National Water Policy must implement a comprehensive conservation strategy and invest in water resource research and monitoring.

Water and NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) defines water as a "service" and an "investment," leaving Canadian water vulnerable to thirsty foreign investors. Once Canada allows water to be withdrawn and transported to other countries for large-scale industrial purposes, foreign investors must be given the same "national treatment" as Canadian companies.

A new National Water Policy must ensure water does not become a tradable commodity in current and future trade deals.

It is the stupidest trade deal in history. Tommy Douglas said that one day Canadians would turn their taps on to just trickles of water. That day will come if our two old line parties arent cleaned out of Ottawa as an exercise in democracy.

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too bad the Manitoba NDP couldn't stop the Manitoba NDP from using what is essentially a P3 for the development of wind power.

And now the city of Winnipeg may (tonight) adopt a "partnership" with private capital for the supply of water, making it, in Maude Barlow's estimation, another step toward the commodification of water resources in Canada.

"Who gets water and who doesn't would be determined by the market," said Ms Barlow.
Winnipeg, apparently, can't afford to meet the provincial standards set for fhe provision of water and waste water disposal.
And that is exactly the opportunity that the larger international private and public retirement and investment funds are looking for as "safe" income providers.

a friend of mine works at a company that has banned all bottled water. It is no longer sold in vending machines and for meetings building ops simply provides pitchers of water.

Except for one little thing. He was at a meeting in one of the board rooms and it was a catered lunch. the in house caterer with their selection of drinks had coffee, tea, pop and wait for it bottled water.

It seems that the company has changed its rules but the caterer of record who has a 3 year contract left has not