Numbers Crunched

Number of Universities in Canada: 95
Number of Universities in Canada with bottled water restrictions: 26 (27%)
Number of cities/municipalities with bottled water restrictions that have bottling facilities within their borders: 3
Number of school boards with bottled water restrictions: 6
Number of school boards outside of Ontario with bottled water restrictions: 0
Percentage of reported restrictions in Canada that occur at educational institutions: 53%

Water Bottle Restrictions in Canada

British Columbia

• University of British Columbia (UBC) – Okanagan Campus
• Thomspon River University
• Simon Fraser University
• Langara College
• Town of Nelson
• City of Burnaby
• City of Vancouver
• Town of Golden

Alberta

• No restrictions reported

Sasakatchewan

• No restrictions reported

Manitoba

• Town of Altona
• University of Winnipeg
• University of Manitoba

Ontario

• Town of Sioux Lookout
• City of Thunder Bay
• City of Sault Ste. Marie
• Town of Laurentian Hills
• Town of Penetanguishene
• Town of Blue Mountains
• Grey County
• Town of Owen Sound
• Town of Brockton
• Dufferin County
• Town of Goderich
• Avon Maitland District School Board
• City of Windsor
• Town of Petrolia (proposed)
• Thames Valley District School Board
• Waterloo Region District School Board
• University of Waterloo
• University of Guelph
• Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
• Town of Welland
• City of Niagara Falls
• City of St. Catharine’s
• Brock University
• City of Burlington
• City of Oakville
• Town of Caledon
• Humber College
• Ryerson University
• University of Toronto
• York University
• City of Toronto
• University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• Sir Sanford Fleming College
• Trent University
• Township of Stirling-Rowden
• Town of Tweed
• Algonquin-Lakeshore District School Board
• Queens University
• Town of Cornwall
• Carleton University
• University of Ottawa
• Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

Quebec

• John Abbott College
• Concordia University
• McGill University
• City of Sherbrooke

New Brunswick

• No restrictions reported

Nova Scotia

• Acadia University
• Universite Sainte Anne
• Town of Barrington
• St. Mary’s University
• Dalhousie University
• University of King’s College
• Mount Saint Vincent University

Prince Edward Island

• University of Prince Edward Island
• City of Charlottetown

Newfoundland/Labrador

• City of St. John’s
• Memorial University

Nunavut

• No restrictions reported

Northwest Territories

• No restrictions reported

Yukon

• No restrictions reported

Some information provided by insidethebottle.org

Photo courtesy of Alexandr Stepanov/Dreamstime

In Canada, conservative estimates indicate approximately 1 billion single-serve, disposable water bottles are consumed every year. Most of the bottles are 100% recyclable, but 20% or 200 million of these never make it to our recycling depots and end up in our community’s landfills, or worse, streets.

The easy and environmental argument to make is to eliminate them from our society completely – and as quickly as possible, explaining why banning disposable water bottles and/or their sale in public institutions is gaining popularity.  News feeds are now littered with stories of the latest government office, school board or municipality that is jumping on this latest green bandwagon.

The unpopular suggestion would be to pull in on the reins of these ban-happy organizations and look at the root causes and effects of such an action. If in fact the Green Movement has taught us anything it is that nothing happens in a vacuum.

Although the fad of drinking bottled water in the late 1990s was certainly fueled by fashion and celebrity the main reasons people now consume water in bottled format is for taste and convenience. With this in mind the institutions interested in banning water bottles should consider that the competition of the water bottle is not necessarily the tap – rather other bottled products that offer similar qualities.

If water bottles are banned due to concerns over packaging, then all products with similar packaging should be removed including the water bottle’s competitors like juice or soft drinks. This would put direct pressure on the vending contracts at some institutions and possible loss of a viable source of revenue – about which local politicians and school board members might think twice.

If a complete ban of products using questionable packaging is not enacted, then indirect support of one beverage over another is perceived and staff and students at a school for example might be persuaded to drink the less healthy, sugar-laden drinks like Coke or Fruitopia because these are the only products that give them the taste and convenience they desire. Driving people to drink less healthy beverages can in turn cause a rash of other social problems like obesity or health problems, which further put a burden on our health systems and environment.

Removing the convenience of bottled products from schools and workplaces leads to a lifestyle change.  To achieve the desired effects of a ban public and private institutions need to focus first on education to ease the lifestyle change  and then provide incentive where necessary to help people in the new direction.

At a school board meeting on April 6, students in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board asked the board to reconsider the ban of bottled water in their schools, citing unsanitary conditions of water fountains or the inability to fill reusable bottles at sinks and fountains due to the physical nature of the appurtenances. The constituents, in this case students, wanted to adjust their lifestyles but lacked the needed infrastructure.

If conditions that cause barriers to the use of reusable water containers exist in our schools, students and staff will be less inclined or able to change their lifestyles when the ban comes into effect. In Massachusetts, a teacher’s union official reported that a pregnant teacher had to be hospitalized for dehydration on the first day of a school-wide ban of bottled water. Extreme example, perhaps – but if the drinking fountains and sinks in her school were unkempt or didn’t allow for filling of certain sized containers – she may not have had many options for hydration. Negative reactions like these have caused the school’s committee to rescind the ban.

Despite the Hamilton-Wentworth student’s protests the motion to ban the sale of bottled water by 2010 was passed in a 9-2 vote by board trustees. Hopefully the board will also support and fund changes to their facilities to make this ban effective. It’s one thing to ban bottles to appear environmentally conscious. It’s another thing to back up this appearance with effort and money.

The University of Winnipeg appears to have found a better approach to the matter. In late March the student association held a referendum deciding the fate of bottled water with 75% of the student body supporting banning the product from campus, becoming the first university in Canada to do so. Despite this, the ban will not take effect until January 2010 to allow for the construction of a sufficient number of water fountains to service the increased demand on the free water supply. Additionally, each first year student in the fall semester will be given a reusable container upon registration. Not only does this promote drinking water but it eases the lifestyle transition.

In the private sector, companies like Stantec Consulting Ltd. provided earthenware mugs and metal water bottles to the 300 employees of their Kitchener, ON office to reduce and eliminate use of disposable cups and bottles for coffee and water.

Banning water bottles as a single action will likely not be effective but in concert with other actions could be a step in the right direction. People generally want to make the right choice – sometimes we need a little help to get there. If the number of these problematic bottles in our society is to be reduced and finally eliminated we need to consider strategies that are sustainable in the long run and promote a healthier society overall.

Looking forward, institutions – both public and private - should be investing their time, money and efforts into education and easing people through a lifestyle change after which, water bottle bans may no longer be needed because the majority of our community will be making the right decision anyway.

Photo courtesy of Roxanne Gonzalez/Dreamstime