VICTORIA B次元官网网址� Have you noticed the latest degradation of standards on TV news? In addition to sensational depictions of crime, accidents and celebrities, the lineup now incorporates any nonsense that is momentarily B次元官网网址渧iralB次元官网网址� on the Internet.
So it was with an online petition singling out Swiss food corporation Nestl茅, which operates a water bottling plant near Hope. ItB次元官网网址檚 the largest in B.C., one of many that bottle the provinceB次元官网网址檚 water and sell it back to a gullible public.
This petition is courtesy of SumOfUs, one of those self-appointed environmental watchdogs that seem to pop up like mushrooms overnight. B次元官网网址淔ighting for people over profits,B次元官网网址� they claim, pitching for donations.
The story has what U.S. comedian Stephen Colbert calls B次元官网网址渢ruthiness.B次元官网网址� ThatB次元官网网址檚 when something is false, but it B次元官网网址渇eelsB次元官网网址� true.
B次元官网网址淣estl茅 is about to suck B.C. dry B次元官网网址� for $2.25 per million litres to be exact,B次元官网网址� says the SumOfUs headline.
Using her keen sense of whatB次元官网网址檚 superficially popular, Premier Christy Clark instantly called for a review of these low rates for selling the peopleB次元官网网址檚 water.
It then fell to Environment Minister Mary Polak to explain whatB次元官网网址檚 really going on.
B次元官网网址淧eople keep saying thereB次元官网网址檚 a deal with Nestl茅,B次元官网网址� Polak told reporters. B次元官网网址淭here isnB次元官网网址檛. They pay the same as any other industrial user, in fact the highest industrial rate, and it goes for anything from hydraulic fracturing to bottled water, those involved in mining for example, any of those heavy industrial uses.B次元官网网址�
And why is that rate so low? ItB次元官网网址檚 because the province takes great pains not to B次元官网网址渟ellB次元官网网址� water, which would make it a commodity under trade agreements, like oil or minerals. That would surrender provincial control, and allow the U.S. to press for equal access to Canadian water.
B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e buying the right to use the water,B次元官网网址� Polak said. B次元官网网址淚 know it sounds crazy to the public, but we call it a rental B次元官网网址� a water rental. ThereB次元官网网址檚 a reason we use that language, because we are very careful to avoid any suggestion that by paying this amount, you therefore own that water.
B次元官网网址淭hat reserves for us the right at any time, for a compelling public need, to say stop. It doesnB次元官网网址檛 matter if you have a licence.B次元官网网址�
As for the brazenly false claim that Nestl茅 is sucking B.C. dry, IB次元官网网址檓 indebted to a real environmental professional named Blair King for explaining this. (His offers useful technical explanations of issues in the news, many of which contradict so-called environmentalists.)
King notes that the bottling plant uses less than one per cent of the flow through Kawkawa Lake:
B次元官网网址淚f Nestl茅 stopped operating (and put its 75 employees out of work and stopped paying municipal taxes) would there be more water for the rest of us?B次元官网网址� he writes.
B次元官网网址淎bsolutely not. Kawkawa Lake drains its excess water into the Fraser River, which drains into the Strait of Georgia. Neither the Fraser River at Hope nor the Strait of Georgia is particularly short of water, even in the driest of years.B次元官网网址�
Clark made one useful contribution, when asked about this urgent non-issue by those seeking to further sensationalize the current drought and forest fires.
She correctly noted that most B.C. residents have access to the best tap water in the world, and have no need for bottled water.
Nestl茅, Perrier, Coke, Pepsi and other companies have done a fantastic job of convincing people that their drinking water has to be delivered in bottles from some mythical pure source.
HereB次元官网网址檚 a tip, Nestl茅 critics: Fill a jug with water and stick it in the fridge. Fight the corporations.
Tom Fletcher is legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Twitter: @tomfletcherbc
