Ontario wants bottlers to pay for Great Lakes water
Last Updated: Wednesday, April 4, 2007 | 9:32 AM ET
CBC News
The Ontario government tabled legislation Tuesday that would make commercial and industrial companies pay fees for taking water from the Great Lakes.
Under the Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario's Water Act, a levy would be slapped on businesses profiting from use of water from the lakes.
The bill would also make into law a 2005 pact with Quebec and eight U.S. states aimed at limiting the large-scale diversion of water from the lakes.
"We can't allow a resource as fundamental as water to be exploited without a thought about how it is sustained," Environment Minister Laurel Broten said Tuesday morning at the Palais Royale on Toronto's waterfront.
The conservation charge would ensure businesses help pay the cost of managing water resources and keep the water supply from being depleted and destroyed, Broten said.
"Safe, clean drinking water is essential if our communities are to continue to enjoy growth and prosperity," she said.
Fees would be phased in starting in spring 2009, targeting water bottlers first and then industrial users such as steel and mining companies. Farmers and municipalities would be exempt.
The government has set a price of $3.71 per million litres for the largest users of water. Fees for companies that consume lower amounts of water are still to be negotiated.
Seven other provinces and territories have implemented water consumption fees, with Saskatchewan charging the highest rate at $12.53 per million litres and Manitoba asking for mere pennies.
Opposition politicians say the Liberals promised during the last election campaign to enact such legislation and criticized them for failing to act on it until months before the next election. They also said the government has failed to provide any details for the plan.
Water bottling industry representatives said they were not opposed to the charge, but wanted all users to pay, including farmers, golf courses and municipalities.
