News Sustainability Water Issues
Report calls for pause on new B.C. licences for commercial water bottling

Victoria – A report by the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria recommends British Columbia place a moratorium on new licences for commercial water bottling, at least until watershed-based governance is in place, including consent-based regimes with Indigenous communities.

According to the report, data generation and deliberation through collaborative local watershed governance processes is how to determine whether there is adequate water security to support commercial water bottling as a viable use, and whether local communities will benefit from exporting water in bottles.

The report is motivated by the multiple pending applications for new licences to extract groundwater for water bottling export from the province.

Read the full report.