On the heels of unprecedented public and media attention to the ongoing issue of consumptive water taking in Wellington County, the Wellington Water Watchers, in partnership with Save Our Water, have submitted a detailed proposal for how Ontario’s permit to take water (PTTW) review process could be strengthened.
Known as an Application for Review (AFR), this document focuses on suggestions for new PTTW rules pertaining to consumptive water takings and specifically ones that are for the purposes of water bottling.
The Water Watchers stated that Premier Kathleen Wynne has pointed out the packaging and wholesale removal of water from Ontario’s aquifers was not a reality that was anticipated when the PTTW process was originally developed.
“We agree that awarding any new permits to Nestlé or other similar water extractors under the current permitting rules would be not only inappropriate but also irresponsible,” Wellington Water Watchers board chair Mike Nagy stated in a recent press release.
He contends the costs of administering PTTWs has far exceeded the costs recuperated by the levies attached to the permits.
Remedying this is one of the groups’ demands, but there are more substantive changes to the PTTW process being requested in the Wellington Water Watchers/Save Our Water’s AFR.
Water Watchers members argue that raising fees is not enough.
“It is true that, at a provincial level the permitting system do not charge enough to cover the administrative costs of issuing permits – the well publicized $3.71/million litres we have all been hearing so much about lately,” said board member Dr. Robert Case.
“But this debate will not be resolved by simply increasing these levies … No amount of money will keep water in the ground for our future needs, especially in the context of climate change.”
Officials with the Wellington Water Watchers and Save Our Water are demanding the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change stand up to its own Statement of Environmental Values.
The Wellington Water Watchers/Save Our Water’s recommendations include prioritizing water usage based on the MOECC’s Statement of Environmental Values, which would not allow for 100% consumptive water taking permits or what they call “heavily waste-producing activities such as water bottling.”
The groups’ proposals also call for greater accountability around policy and regulation changes related to water-taking permits.
A policy change the organizations would like revoked, for example, allows for continued water extraction by companies after their permit has expired (when renewals are delayed), without any public consultation or consideration of drought or other environmental changes.
