On Monday, June 25th, the city council passed three key resolutions designating the City of Nanaimo a Blue Community. Firstly, the city agrees with the proposition that access to clean water is a human right.
Second, the infrastructure for the provision of tap water and waste water services for the city should remain under public ownership with no profit motive attached to the delivery of that service. And thirdly the city agreed to ban the sale of bottled water at city owned facilities where safe clean tap water is available and promote city tap water. This third resolution will be phased in over a period of months.
The bottled water resolution caused the most confusion on council. Banning the sale of bottled water at city facilities does not stop people from consuming water from single use bottles that they bring with them to these parks and facilities. This resolution merely reaffirms the values inherent in the first two resolutions. If city council believes that water is a human right and that municipal water systems should not be privatized for profit then it follows that the city should promote the excellent tap water it provides and not be profiting from the sale of single use bottled water where tap water is readily available.
The coalition of local groups, Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition, the Mid Island Chapter of the Council of Canadians, Island Glass Artisans and Local 401 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which brought forward the Blue Communities resolutions to Nanaimo City Council would like to thank and congratulate the Mayor and Council for adopting a water commons framework.
The Nanaimo Blue Communities coalition is looking forward to making another presentation to city council, this time with a certificate, which recognizes the City Of Nanaimo as a Blue Community.
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