The Editor,
Re: "Bottle current flows faster," News, Nov. 30.
I read with interest the article written by Benjamin Yong. In the piece, UBC student Cherrie Lam states her objections to bottled water which, unfortunately, are founded on information long confirmed as false - mythology one typically finds on anti-bottled water activists' websites.
Health Canada regulations for bottled water must be as strong and protective of public health as provincial regulations for tap water. However, News readers need not take my word for it, nor Ms. Lam's for that matter.
When it comes to the quality, safety or regulation of bottled water, they can get the facts by visiting the Health Canada website (www.hc-sc.gc.ca).
Ms. Lam is fortunate to live in Richmond, the most environmentally progressive municipality in B.C. and, since last year, home of the first permanent public spaces recycling program in provincial history.
She also lives in a province where the recycling rate for plastic beverage containers, including bottled water, was almost 80 per cent last year, according to Encorp Pacific, the industry steward responsible for such recycling.
Next year, through Encorp Pacific's leadership, B.C. will become just the second jurisdiction in North America (behind Manitoba) to have a permanent, province-wide public spaces recycling program to complement its depot and curbside recycling programs.
What should be of concern to UBC and Richmond School Board administrators is a 2009 Toronto District School Board (www. tdsb.on.ca) report that enunciated the problems associated with banning the sale of bottled water in educational facilities.
Board staff wrote "students have access to 35 per cent of the water needed for proper hydration during the school day," and when bottled water was temporarily removed as part of their study into the matter, "of those students who normally purchased bottled water at school, 22 per cent drank nothing at all and those who substituted pop or soft drinks for water outnumbered those who chose milk or juice."
Staff warned there is a direct link between hydration and brain function and "a mere two per cent drop in body water can trigger short-term fuzzy memory, trouble with basic math and difficulty focusing on a computer screen."
While we are opposed to any banning of bottled water in municipal or educational buildings, we are not opposed to filtered-water filling stations or water fountains, as long as operating funds are in place to properly maintain them.
We simply believe staff and students have the right to select and consume the beverage of their choice.
John B. Challinor Director of corporate affairs Nestlé Waters Canada
