Bottled water will no longer be available on municipal property as of Jan. 1, 2011, thanks to a Squamish Climate Action Network (CAN) initiative to "take back the tap."
"Our goal is to eliminate the use of the single-service water bottle," said district environmental technician Brooke Carere at Tuesday's (Sept. 14) Committee of the Whole meeting.
District of Squamish council decided to eliminate the sale and purchase of bottled water at municipal buildings, recreation facilities and parks during the meeting.
To compensate for potential public inaccessibility to water, council agreed to install more drinking fountains and develop a public awareness campaign about the positive benefits and quality of municipal water.
"Municipal water systems in Canada are among the safest in the world and deliver affordable water to its citizens," said Carere during her report to council.
She said 40 to 60 per cent of empty bottles end up as litter, it takes three litres of water to produce one litre of bottle water, and bottled water costs 2,000 times more than tap water.
She also mentioned that despite people's assumption that bottled water is cleaner, the bottled water industry is actually less closely regulated than public water systems.
"Whereas the District of Squamish tests its drinking water daily, bottled water is regulated under the Canadian Food and Drugs Act and considered a low risk product," said Carere. "Consequently, bottled water plants are only inspected on average every one to three years."
Carere's report suggested four phases to eliminating bottled water: inventory, communication, alternatives and removal of bottled water from municipal facilities by Jan. 1. She said the exception would be Pepsi products since the district is contractually obligated to provide the company's bottled water until March 2011.
District staffers are already assessing the inventory for bottled water and existing water-access infrastructure. Carere said Municipal Hall is the worst for public water access since there are no fountains, and washroom taps are too low to fill a bottle.
Total estimated cost for the initiative is $1,625, which Carere requested for inclusion in the 2011 budget.
Council members were unanimously supportive and had several suggestions for making sure people didn't buy juice or pop instead.
"My biggest concern is we don't want to encourage people to drink sugary drinks instead," said Coun. Patricia Heintzman.
She suggested having reusable water bottles for purchase.
"You can buy a logoed water bottle anywhere, for 50 cents to $3. So I think we could come up with something."
She also suggested making the water fountains "eye-catching" by having artists decorate them.
Coun. Rob Kirkham suggested getting rid of vending machines in municipal facilities altogether.
"If we're providing water, I don't see any reason to provide other stuff."
He said in addition to promoting Squamish's high quality drinking water to its residents, the "take back the tap" initiative would also serve to promote Squamish.
Coun. Doug Race reflected on the introduction of bottled water in Canada.
"The sale of bottled water is something we can do without," said Race. "It's a relatively recent phenomenon.
"I remember when it started and I said no one in Canada would be stupid enough to buy bottled water. I thought we would sell it to someone in Arizona little did I know."
Race expressed concern, however, that installing water fountains and higher taps would take much longer than the January 2011 date and people would be left with no convenient access to water.
Coun. Paul Lalli said money shouldn't be a barrier for an issue this important and asked whether there was any currently available.
"Water is an essential necessity and I think we should be willing to put dollars behind this."
Acting Mayor Corinne Lonsdale supported Lalli and said she thought there might be some funding in the contingency fund to get the infrastructure underway.
"If we have the money to do something, I think we should concentrate on Municipal Hall, the Seniors Centre and the Adventure Centre," she said. "They're lacking public access to water and that's not fair."
Despite this, she said she did remember the days at Municipal Hall before bottled water.
"I remember when there was no bottled water and staff here actually drank the tap water - they took a glass out of the cupboard, drank the water and washed it. We survived."
She suggested each municipal facility employee be provided with a reusable water bottle before Jan. 1.
The motion was carried unanimously, causing Squamish CAN members sitting in the council chambers to applaud.
"I'm ecstatic," said Squamish CAN co-ordinator Ana Santos. "It's wonderful, even better than I thought. It's very good news how keen the councillors are to put their money where their words are and look for alternatives."
Lonsdale asked Carere to return on Sept. 21 with a verbal report on funding options for installing water fountains in the Adventure Centre, Municipal Hall and the Seniors Centre.
