Bottlers not draining us, Ontario says

  • 12/07/1999

The amount of high-quality, drinkable water available to commercial bottlers in Ontario is a drop in the bucket, according to provincial officials. 'People shouldn't think their water is going to run dry tomorrow or anything,'' Dan Schultz, press secretary to Environment Minister Tony Clement, said yesterday. The industry has been issued permits entitling it to use 18 billion litres annually, according to the ministry. That's 1 per cent of the 1,800 billion litres that comes from Ontario aquifers annually - or about the same volume that flows over Niagara Falls every hour and three-quarters.