In House: ECW’s 30-day Water Challenge keeps them from the Boiling Point

ECW Press laid out the facts this past October: Canadian water facts, that is. Armed with the revelations in Maude Barlow’s incisive book, Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada’s Water Crisis, they embarked on a 30-day water challenge (#30daywaterchallenge) to try and curb their own use. With Barlow leading the charge on the Boycott Nestlé movement, we rounded up five bottled water facts in her book for you to make your own smart water (and not SmartWater) choices.* * *1. Why can’t I just have bottled water, you ask? It’s the same amount if it comes from my tap or from a bottle, right? Nope: if you factor in the water that it takes to make the plastic bottle that water comes in, it takes 3 litres of water to make 1 litre of bottled water.2. While municipal tap water is subject to multiple tests a day to ensure safety and quality, bottled water is considered a “food” and falls under the Canadian Food and Drugs Act. Do you want to forego daily-tested tap water when, on average, bottled water plants are inspected every three years?3. While cost of extraction varies from province to province, (from $70/million litres in Quebec to $2.25/million litres in British Columbia), the permits and measuring systems are under-regulated. For example, in Ontario, the government spends $16.2 million managing permits but collects only about $1 million in fees, or 1.2% of the cost of operating the program. They issued permits for 500 trillion litres of water last year.4. These extraction permits for bulk water withdrawals are issued without a complete mapping of Canadian groundwater reserves – in other words, we don’t know when the next 500 trillion litres will be our last.5. The Nestlé Aberfoyle plant in Ontario alone extracts 3.6 million litres per day, or 1.3 billion a year.* * *

So what can you do about these mighty facts? Day 2 of ECW’s water challenge recommends that you can start by signing up for the Blue Water Communities Tap Water pledge, promising to drink from the tap instead of from wasteful bottles – Canadians currently buy 2.4 billion litres of bottled water a year! We recognize that going off bottled water is unsafe for some communities, so be sure to check out the rest of their daily challenges, too – they’re good water-use habits that can go well beyond 30 days.And don’t forget to read Boiling Point, too, for more of Maude Barlow’s state of the water address. Naomi Klein calls her “one of our planet’s greatest water defenders” – and you’ll want to be one, too. Thanks to the ECW team, especially Sam, for inspiring us to take up the challenge and watch our own water habits!