Re: ‘Albert Lacombe School puts lid on bottled water,’ Jan. 22 Gazette:
In the piece, reporter Lauren Den Hartog quotes Albert Lacombe School principal Julian DiCastri who, unfortunately, based his objections to bottled water on information that has long been confirmed as false — mythology one typically finds on anti-bottled water activists’ websites or in circulars published by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.
In contrast to both Mr. DiCastri’s and Council of Canadians activist Maude Barlow’s statements about the privatization of water in developing countries, the bottled water industry is simply not a significant factor in the global access-to-water debate: agriculture uses 70 per cent of total available fresh water, industry 20 per cent; domestic users 10 per cent; bottled water industry well less than 1.0 per cent.
Regarding Mr. Di Castri’s statement that plastic water bottles are filling up landfills, provincial industry steward Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation recently reported that the diversion rate for plastic beverage containers last year in Alberta was 80 per cent.
In closing, we trust that students at Albert Lacombe School are permitted to consider all sides of the argument before confirming their individual positions on bottled water, including reviewing the writings of C.S. Morrissey, a Catholic assistant professor of philosophy at Redeemer Pacific College.
Mr. Morrissey recently wrote in the B.C. Catholic Paper that, “It is worth taking a step back to ask why an overt political activism about water is currently being sanctioned in our churches … if an inflexible left-wing ideology is using the rhetorical flourishes of a religious crusade, then that should give us pause … do we become sinners or lapsed Catholics, or opponents of peace and justice, simply because we drink bottled water? The answer is a resounding no.”
John B. Challinor II, director of corporate affairs, Nestlé Waters Canada
