8/26/13 The B.C. Government Trusts Nestlé with the Province’s Fresh Water | VICE Canada

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THE B.C. GOVERNMENT TRUSTS NESTLÉ WITH THEPROVINCE’S FRESH WATERBy Sarah Berman

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Imagine for a moment what it was like making laws happen in the year 1909. Racism was widelyencouraged, women weren’t allowed to vote, and law books seemed to have infinite room for shitabout duels and general horse etiquette, along with the godawful phenomenon that wastemperance.

Lucky for multibillion dollar corporations like Nestlé, British Columbia’s laws around drinking waterare still stuck in this equestriancentric, nonalcoholic era. Nestlé Waters Canada (a subsidiaryof Nestlé, the multinational food company responsible for everything from Stouffer’s to Smarties) isextracting hundreds of millions of litres of groundwater from Hope, B.C.'s water table withoutpaying a cent, applying for a permit or even consulting with neighbours, and then selling it back tous.

"If you think about it in Olympicsized swimming pools, which are 2.5 million litres each, Nestlé istaking nearly 107 Olympic swimming pools every year," says WaterWealth campaigner SheilaMuxlow. "It's basically a small lake."

Last week, an investigation revealed B.C. is the only province in Canada that doesn't regulateits groundwater. Other provinces like Ontario and Nova Scotia collect between $3 and $146 permillion litres of extracted groundwater, and maintain a formal permitting process. While there's beentalk of updating the 104yearold B.C. Water Act over the last 20 years, progress has beenembarrassingly slow.

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8/26/13 The B.C. Government Trusts Nestlé with the Province’s Fresh Water | VICE Canada

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“The Water Act as we understand it was designed for a completely different time,” says OliverBrandes, lead researcher of the Water Sustainability Project at the University of Victoria’s Centrefor Global Studies. “You can probably imagine what B.C. looked like to the government of the day:infinite land, infinite forest.”

It's not 1909 anymore, and we know that resources are not infinite. Still, corporations in B.C. aren'trequired to tell anybody—including surrounding First Nations—how much water they're pumpingout of the ground. 

“There are some modest rules around drilling and capping water wells, but there are zero rulesaround how much you withdraw," Brandes says. Muxlow lives in Chilliwack, about 50 km west ofHope, where Nestlé also has a bottling and distribution plant. Over the last decade, she andsurrounding communities have seen Nestlé steadily stepping up its production.

“It was not a 24/7 operation before, but now it’s pumping at all hours,” Muxlow says, adding thenumber of semitrucks on the winding, mountain road has also risen with Nestlé's expansions.

There are many reasons to dislike the most profitable food and beverage company in theworld. Nestlé gets moms at Costco to buy water at a higher markup than gasoline. They've had torecall products in China and Spain due to traces of melamine and horse DNA, respectively. Andbeing a producer of hundreds of chocolate bar brands, they're definitely on the wrong side ofAmerica's obesity epidemic.

Despite all that, Nestlé aren't the bad guys in this situation. "They're not violating the law—they'renot the criminals here," Muxlow says. So far, Nestlé Waters Canada have been good sports,providing voluntary info about their plant to the B.C. government. Nestlé spokesperson JohnChallinor says the facilities also comply with Health Canada standards.

The scary part is the B.C. Ministry of Environment actually trusts Nestle and other corporations tovolunteer and play fair. “We don’t have any third party science to back the corporation’sstatements,” says Muxlow. “A corporation is going to say what’s going to work to perpetuate theirbusiness. There's no thirdparty expertise ensuring lines of accountability.”

Such a cavalier approach to corporations' use of water is already impacting crop returns inTexas. Agricultural companies have been overpumping the Ogallala aquifer for years, depletingone of America's largest sources of fresh water. Meanwhile in Vermont, politicians smartened upyears ago and declared water a public trust. B.C. is aiming to pass a brand new WaterSustainability Act in 2014, which would replace the superdated Water Act. They've likely beenable to drag their feet this long, simply because Canada has so many freshwater resources. 

“It clearly has not a priority for decision makers in this province,” says Muxlow. "It's no questionthat water is abundant in B.C.—we're lucky in that regard ... people who can think globally and arewatching what is happening with the world's water resources see that we need to make sure ourresources are managed properly."

Canada has the fourthlargest supply of freshwater, behind Russia, Brazil and China. With sucholdschool rules, Nestléis probably keeping their eye on our brand new lake at the North Polewhile the government continues to trust that the corporation will simply just do the right thing.

By Sarah Berman  2 days agoTags: water, nature, politics, Canada, British Columbia, bc, government, nestle, environment, first nations

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8/26/13 The B.C. Government Trusts Nestlé with the Province’s Fresh Water | VICE Canada

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Michelle Logan · Maple Ridge, British ColumbiaI've always thought bottled water tastes like shit, which is besides the point. I will be writing to myMLA about this, and encourage other BC'ers to do the same.... These laws need to change, ASAP.Reply · · Like · August 23 at 9:24pm3

Shannon Skinner · Top Commenter · Burnaby, British Columbiaactually we've been doing that for 2 decades and I remember them... many times I signedthat and still nothing..Reply · Like · August 23 at 10:26pm

Marc Francis · Top Commenter · Has a MUSIC PAGE at TaperecorderWow. The CEO of this very same company says water is not a human right.Reply · · Like · August 23 at 1:03pm3

Ellis Dee · Top Commenter · Illustrator/Sub-Contractor/Master Slave Driver atOutsourced Illustrations IncorporatedyepReply · Like · August 23 at 8:08pm

Ellis Dee · Top Commenter · Illustrator/Sub-Contractor/Master Slave Driver atOutsourced Illustrations Incorporated...& hey, corporations are people too!Reply · Like · August 23 at 8:08pm

Yann Perriereonce again the bc government can be a source of shame for all to enjoy...Reply · · Like · August 23 at 5:42pm2

Ellis Dee · Top Commenter · Illustrator/Sub-Contractor/Master Slave Driver atOutsourced Illustrations IncorporatedHas been since the days of "criminal Campbell".Reply · · Like · August 23 at 8:09pm1

Ellis Dee · Top Commenter · Illustrator/Sub-Contractor/Master Slave Driver at OutsourcedIllustrations IncorporatedFuture wars will likely be fought over fresh water & not oil.Reply · · Like · August 23 at 8:10pm2

Artful DodgerB.C. Government trusts Nestle with Province's fresh water??? Is this the same Nestlewhose CEO recently said that water is NOT a human right?!?Reply · Like · August 24 at 10:43am

Josh Dehaas · University of GuelphI freakin hate bottled water. Unless it's Perrier. Bubbles!Reply · · Like · August 23 at 12:23pm2

Philippe Benjamin · Camera Operator at FreelancerPerrier is a Nestlé brand, BTW. So is San Pellegrino. No lesser evil.Reply · · Like · August 23 at 1:19pm2

8/26/13 The B.C. Government Trusts Nestlé with the Province’s Fresh Water | VICE Canada

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