(Halifax) - The president of CUPE Nova Scotia, Danny Cavanagh, says the provincial government needs to look at banning the use of bottled water in schools and other public buildings in this province.
Cavanagh says, “If the government is really committed to working on our environmental footprint, let’s start with some education aimed at our children and others that public water is just as good and in fact better and cheaper and more environmentally friendly.”
Says Cavanagh, “Public water undergoes much testing to ensure its safety. Bottled water, meanwhile, can cost as much as 500 times that of public water. Corporations are raking in huge profits for their shareholders from bottled water, not to mention the environmental cost of making all those bottles.
“Clean, plentiful and affordable water is the source of life and good health. Nova Scotians need to understand that water is a human right, a limited natural resource that is essential to life and health and not a commodity,” he says.
“The bottled water industry requires massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport bottled water. This is doing nothing to help combat climate change,” says Cavanagh.
Cavanagh says, “Other communities and governments are banning bottled water and we can take a lead role in this province. Nova Scotia is seen as a world leader with recycling and composting and bottled water is just more garbage that we need to rid ourselves of.
“We need to stop this wasteful practice and move towards using public water provided by public sector workers across the province, after all it’s the best,” he says.
(Danny Cavanagh is a provincially certified Level 2 water treatment plant and water distribution systems operator and is the president of CUPE in Nova Scotia.)
For information:
Danny Cavanagh John McCracken
President, CUPE Nova Scotia CUPE Communications Rep.
(902) 957-0822 (Cell) (902) 455-4180 (o)