On October 6, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks proposed changes to the Ontario Water Resources Act that would require water bottling companies to have the support of their local host municipality for a new or increased groundwater taking in their community.

This is good news and will require that citizens stay active in ensuring elected municipal Council members are focused on protecting water. We are also pleased that the requirement for a municipality to give consent is being upgraded from a regulation to a legislative amendment.

But the threshold is wrong in this proposal.

Tell Minister Yurek that municipalities should have veto power over all new or increased water taking permits – big or small – including those taking less than 379,000 litres per day for water bottling or a pump test.