Recent events in the province of Ontario have brought the issue of water extraction into the headlines, especially concerning water bottling companies.
As in other provinces, the fee in Ontario for commercial water extraction is extremely low. In Ontario the current fee is $3.71 per million litres on top of a $750 charge for operations deemed to pose a low to medium risk of adversely affecting the environmental, and $3,000 for high risk operations.
This is for all commercial extractions whether bottlers, mines, industry etc. Now the province is poised to increase that fee for water bottlers by $500 per million litres. While water extraction by corporate bottlers has been a concern across the country for several years, Ontario’s proposal appears to be the result of a strong public outcry against the giant multi-national firm, Nestle, in the west-central region of Centre Wellington.
Nestle has permits for two wells in the area from which it can extract 3.6 million litres of water per day from it’s well in Aberfoyle, and another 1.1 million per day from a well in the town of Erin.
While these have been controversial locally, the issue came to a head and gained national and international headlines when Nestle purchased yet another well that the growing local community had wanted to buy to ensure water supply for its own needs.
Under public pressure, the province reacted by proposing new restrictions on bottlers seeking permit renewals, and a two-year moratorium on new permits or increases in current permits.
A local citizens group, Wellington Water Watchers, says an increase in extraction fees won’t have a great effect on use.
Water Watchers chairman Mike Nagy is quoted by the Canadian Press saying, “No price would be high enough to stop some companies from doing what they’re doing because the profits are so high”.
A government source says the proposal to increase the fee for water-bottling companies who take from groundwater will be posted this morning on the regulatory registry for a mandatory 60-day comment period.
The government says it is now also looking at fees charged to other water extraction operations such as mines, industry, golf courses, and so on.
Additional information- sources
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.