Nestlé sucking Canada Dry
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- Published on Saturday, 21 February 2015 04:22
- Written by editor
BC is finally charging water bottling corporations for taking our groundwater to sell around the world at a profit. But it is only asking for $2.25 per million litres.
This isn't the drinking water fix we had in mind, BC. Tell the government to commit to review the water rates and charge a fair price for our most precious resource.
Paov,
British Columbia will finally start charging companies like Nestlé for taking our groundwater and bottling it to sell at a profit. The problem is it will only be charging $2.25 per million litres.
Under this new pricing structure Nestlé and corporations like it will be able to buy up Canada's water for next to nothing. When over one hundred thousand of us objected to Nestlé taking 285 million litres of BC’s water for free and selling it around the world, this wasn’t the fix we had in mind.
At a time when water is in short supply globally, it is outrageous that Nestlé can draw limitless amounts of our natural resources to sell for a huge profit. Nestlé's chairman says that "extremist" NGOs are responsible for the idea that water is a human right, and that water should have a market price -- apparently he thinks that the “market price” for him is $2.25.
Tell the BC government to charge a fair price for our most precious resource.
The cruel irony is that the new water legislation is fairly appropriate when it comes to individuals’ water use -- but corporations, once again, get off with paying virtually nothing. If you or I were to bottle enough groundwater to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, we’d pay $180. Nestlé will pay $6.25. That’s bananas.
BC has some of the purest, cleanest and most delicious water in the world -- and Nestlé doesn’t think anything of sucking it out of the ground for a pittance and selling it back to us in a plastic bottle. Nor does the BC government, apparently. This new pricing structure, which was supposed to fix the problem of freeloading corporations, is even more outrageous at a time when many parts of the world are facing extreme water shortages.
We need your voice to stop this. SumOfUs members across the globe have mobilized in the hundreds of thousands to call for Nestle to stop exploiting water rights. From Pakistan to right here in Canada, we are going to make sure Nestle can't walk away with our water without paying a fair price.
Thanks for all that you do,
Angus, Nicole and the rest of the SumOfUs team
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More information:
Companies will now have to pay for B.C.’s groundwater — but is it enough?,The Province, Feb 5, 2015
Province raising prices but not ‘selling’ water with new rate schedule, The Vancouver Sun, Feb 10, 2015
SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy. Please help keep SumOfUs strong byr0
