Dear editor,
Our neighbouring municipalities of Comox and Cumberland have already become Blue Communities by:
1. Recognizing water as a human right;
2. Promoting publicly financed, owned and operated water and wastewater services;
3. Banning the sale of bottled water in public facilities and at municipal events.
I would urge the City of Courtenay to follow their example.
Responsibility for water is shared between provincial, municipal and federal governments. It is therefore crucial that the right to water be enshrined at every level of government.
It is important to me that Courtenay’s water and wastewater services remain publicly owned, despite the pressure by the federal government to move to public/private partnerships (P3s).
It is important to me to see the City of Courtenay setting an example by removing bottled water from all municipal vending machines and not serving bottled water at any municipal events. With the good water quality that we have in the Comox Valley there is no need for bottled water.
Pamela Munroe,
Courtenay
