Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

The PSAC Vancouver Regional Office recently switched from drinking bottled water to tap water … here’s why.

Our union recently identified Defending Quality Public Services as one of our key priorities.

Water is the most important public service in the world. It is also a fundamental human right and according to the United Nations, “the human right to drinking water is fundamental to life and health.”

Unfortunately, the majority of people in the world do not have access to this fundamental human right. Over 1.7 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and each year, millions of children die of disease caused by unsafe water. The numbers are increasing as multinational companies turn water into a commodity that is being privatized, bottled and sold back to us in the guise of being “purer, healthier and safer,” even though much of this water is re-filtered from our municipal supplies.

We need to defend and keep water as a quality public service that everyone in the world has the right to access without paying for it.

“People from all walks of life are recognizing a deep truth: water, the basic element of life, is under threat. They are looking at their own water use, striving to take steps to conserve water as a public trust and questioning the depletion of water and it’s commodification by corporations.”(KAIROS Canada)

We need to be part of the change – by starting with ourselves and looking at our own water use. That’s why we’ve made a commitment to stop using privatized bottled water in the regional office and “tap” into our public water supply.

“Purer,” “healthier,” “safer” might be some of the reasons why you buy bottled water. But is the water healthier and safer? Take a look at some of the links posted below and see what you think.

< ?php get_links(87); ?>

“People count on water for life; corporations count on it for profit”