The province has renewed the operating permits of Triton Water Canada Holdings Inc. for five years at its water bottling sites in Aberfoyle and Erin.
The sites were formerly owned by Nestlé Waters Canada for years before they sold it earlier this year.
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks announced the permits on Monday. A moratorium on new water taking permits was lifted in April.
The new permits allows BlueTriton to take 1.1 million litres of water per day from the Erin location and 3.6 million litres a day from its Aberfoyle location.
Despite concerns raised over water extraction permits for years by local community members and environment activists who believe the removal of water could have detrimental effects to the local water supply, the province says otherwise.
“The ministry is satisfied that the water taking does not interfere with private water supply wells located in the area, nor has the water taking resulted in unacceptable impacts to the environment,” read the permits for both locations.
The ministry states that the permit to take water has been issued with conditions that require monitoring of local water levels to ensure water taking remains sustainable. It also states that records are to be annually reported to the ministry.
The request for permit certainly drew a lot of public attention as the ministry received over 11,158 comments through email about the permit renewal for its Erin location and 11,377 emails for its Puslinch location.
The notice states that comments relevant to the water taking proposal were considered as part of the application review such as concerns with extracting water during drought, priorities with climate change and banning water bottling as a commercial activity.
The ministry stated that it issued a five-year permit in response to comments that urged the ministry to limit the permit duration with consideration to future municipal demands and potential interference with water users in the future.
It also states that “there are no unacceptable long-term or short-term (including during drought or low-water advisories) effects from this water taking, including impacts to existing water users or the environment.”
The ministry says Indigenous communities Six Nations of the Grand River, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council were notified of the permit renewal for both locations.
While no comments or concerns were received regarding the Puslinch location, the ministry says a response indicating 'no concern' was received from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation for the Erin location.
Arlene Slocombe, director of Wellington Water Watchers, says her main concern with the permit is the lack of an adequate consent from all Six Nations communities who declared a cease and desist order on the extraction of water in 2019 and recently in September.
“Consent does not mean notification. Consent means sitting on the table communicating. There’s a vocal call for that land to be returned to Six Nations,” said Slocombe.
She shared her concern with the permit granting permission to extract water during drought and low water advisories.
“That’s ridiculous. Citizens and residents have to abide by drought restrictions,” said Slocombe.
She said the WWW wants the ministry to treat Triton Water’s application as a new permit and not a renewal so it would go through numerous processes by the ministry.
“They've just decided to treat it as a renewal and renew the permit, even though it's a new company, a new era we’re in,” said Slocombe. “It just streamlined a certain process for the new owners.”
WWW has been calling on the province to revoke water-taking permits for years.
“This industry is so clearly opposed by so very many. Their processes show how many people oppose it and yet they just continue to issue permits for so many years now," said Slocombe.
Permits can be seen here for the Puslinch and Erin locations.
“We are pleased the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks reaffirmed BlueTriton Brand’s bottled water operations in Ontario continue to meet the highest standards of environmental sustainability and responsible stewardship of this vital resource,” said Jennifer Kerr, director of corporate affairs at Blue Triton in a press release.
“We are proud of our 22-year history of protecting the environment in Wellington County while supporting our communities as a responsible employer and contributor to local organizations --throughout the pandemic, our team worked tirelessly to donate bottled water to food banks,hospitals, front-line workers, and other members of the community.”
