I read with interest the letter from J.B. Challinor, director of corporate affairs, Nestlé Waters Canada, with regards to the bottled water debate at the offices of the Surrey School District. They are looking at a ban of bottled water sales in all schools.
I applaud the school board for their sensibility and clarity when it comes to the water issue. I hope they can disregard the feeble arguments from the industry of selling us stuff we don’t need. One only has to watch the excellent documentary “Tapped” (www.tappedthefilm.com) to be thoroughly disgusted with the business of gathering water, manufacturing bottles and polluting our planet with millions of plastic bottles to make a sensible decision on allowing the sale of bottled water in schools.
Canadians, as Challinor argues, are still buying bottled water because it is “portable, accessible and a healthy choice.” A reusable bottle is all of the same with out the plastic bottle that is manufactured in plants that pollute the environment and then discarded within minutes, leaving it 1,000 years to sit in a landfill site or float in a giant plastic island in the ocean.
The bottled water industry used to claim their product was better than tap water. They have since backed down from this ridiculous argument.
They are now pushing the water vs. pop fear. Schools have water fountains as I recall, so let’s not be too hasty to encourage the continued sale of bottled water to keep our children “hydrated.”
The bottled water debate is over. Unless we are shipping water into a disaster relief area there is no need for it. Carry a refillable container rather than buying bottled water.
Linda Detlor, Delta
