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Boiling down water politics
Tuesday September 2 2008
Doug Harkness On Politics
 
I suppose the best way to celebrate my fifth anniversary as a columnist is to go off on a good rant. I sure am glad that local politicians have better things to do with their time than debate the sale of water in plastic bottles like the low fat latte types have done down in London.
Like most of you I’ve been making a real effort to be more environmentally conscience. There is also most certainly a long way to go. Where I am going to try a lot harder in the near future is to reduce the amount of water that I use. We already have those marginally acceptable low flow showers but I still take far too long. A member of the crack research staff tells me that actress Jennifer Anniston has her shower time down to three minutes. I’m going to have to see if I can get a demonstration in order to pick up a few pointers.
I’m a little puzzled though with this ban that seems to be trying hard to make the use of plastic water bottles as socially unacceptable as smoking. The argument seems to be that we shouldn’t be using plastic bottles when free tap water is available. Now first off, the last time I checked my municipal tax bill water wasn’t free, although lets not split hairs here. I’m sure there can’t be a conspiracy underfoot to get us to use more municipal water and hence increase municipal coffers, could there be?
A little more thought needs to go into things like this too. I attended a seminar at an institution of higher learning (not a local one) that provided pitchers of water for guests and then promptly gave us Styrofoam cups to drink from!
The issue does create an opportunity for businesses catering to the green crowd. I am sure it won’t be long until builders start offering residential water fountains. Would you like that in the master bath next to the bidet in order to amuse and confuse your friends?
It seems odd to me that places like London and others are considering a ban that targets only 18-19 per cent of the bottled beverage industry. Odder still that they are going after the healthiest beverage in the lot while leaving alone others shipped in packages that can’t be recycled at all. Being a former kidney stone sufferer, I’ve come to rely heavily on the handy little bottles, although I leave the house with just one and refill it seven or eight times a day. There are times though where I find myself on the road and have little choice but to buy more. It’s inarguably a much healthier choice to buy a bottle of water than a soft drink loaded with sugar.
I guess I’ll just have to try a little harder. Tomorrow I’ll be the one on the road still with shampoo in my hair balancing a ceramic mug of cold water that doesn’t fit into my cup holders. Argh.

Doug Harkness is a long-time member of the Orangeville community with a keen interest in local, provincial and federal politics.