WATER NEWS
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October 2010
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Public Input Welcomed for Metro Vancouver’s Drinking Water Management Plan
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010In accordance with our Drinking Water Management Plan (DWMP), Metro Vancouver has prepared a Progress Report summarizing Metro Vancouver’s and its members’ progress in implementing the DWMP. You are welcome to attend this meeting to provide your comments on the Progress Report to the Water Committee.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 – 9 am
Metro Vancouver – 2nd floor Boardroom, 4330 Kingsway, BurnabyTo speak to Metro Vancouver’s Water Committee, apply (before November 1st) by:
- mail: Corporate Secretarys Department, 4330 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C. V5H 4G8
- email: delegations@metrovancouver.org
- fax: 604-451-6686
Include the following information:
- subject matter on which you wish to speak
- name of the designated speaker
- specific action which is being requested of the Committee
- a summary of your presentation (maximum of two pages)
If you miss the November 1, 2010 application deadline, you may still apply to speak by bringing your written request to the meeting for the Committees consideration.
If you cannot attend the meeting, provide your input by email to icentre@metrovancouver.org, or write to the Public Involvement Division at the above address.
View the DWMP Progress Report
For more information or to receive a copy of the report, please phone the Metro Vancouver Information Centre at 604-432-6200.
Deadline for feedback: November 26, 2010.
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Metro Vancouver Proposal to Generate Energy from Drinking Water Reservoirs
Monday, October 18th, 2010Metro Vancouver is developing a water use plan to explore whether and how to generate hydropower from water spilling over the dams at our Capilano and Seymour drinking water reservoirs.
Water falls steeply over Capilano’s Cleveland Dam. If harnessed, it could generate between 30 and 60 gigawatt hours of electricity per year. The Seymour reservoir would probably yield 10 gigawatts.
Although capturing renewable energy from existing dams has obvious appeal, the proposal is raising concerns that it might open the door to conflicting priorities. Would profits from electricity compromise future decisions about the use of these publicly owned watersheds which supply our drinking water?
Metro Vancouver is inviting your feedback and comments on this proposal until October 29, 2010.
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Ban Oil Tankers from Vancouver & Coastal Waters
Friday, October 15th, 2010
Why is Vancouver being risked to ship Alberta’s dirty oil to China?
Each week two tankers carry tar sands crude oil through Vancouver’s busy harbour.
Oil companies plan to increase shipments to 10 tankers per week.
This is a disaster waiting to happen in our back yard.Each tanker carries up to 700,000 barrels of heavy crude oil.
For some perspective…the Exxon Valdez spilled 266,000 barrels.“A Day for the Bay” – Sunday, October 17
All are invited to participate in a public event to protect of our coastline and to take a stand against crude oil tankers in Vancouver and our coastal waters on Sunday, October 17th.
A flotilla of boats and people on land will rally at 2nd Beach in Vancouver for some fun events. Details here>
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‘Tap Map’ Locates Drinking Water Fountains in Metro Vancouver
Sunday, October 10th, 2010Use ‘Tap Map‘ to find hundreds of public drinking water fountains and free waterbottle refill stations in Metro Vancouver. Download ‘Tap Map’ to your iPhone. Apps for Androids and Blackberries are coming soon.
Metro Vancouver is committed to reducing bottled water use and the environmental impact of single-use plastic bottles. Millions of these bottles end up in our landfills. We can support sustainability by using refillable water containers instead.
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Vitaminwater –Are you kidding?
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010Just in case you’re falling for Coke’s latest twist on bottled water… read the pharmaceutical-looking labels on Vitaminwater’s dressed-down bottles. You’ll see that this beverage, promoted as the means to ‘hydrate responsibly’, contains a load of sugar (33 grams) and a token trace of synthetic vitamins.
Coca Cola has been sued for misleading health claims regarding this product. Ironically, Coke’s legal defence asserted that “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage”. So why are we falling for it?
Now that bottled water and the Dasani brand are no longer ‘cool’, Coca Cola has come up with new angles to persuade us to keep buying its beverages –some form of water bottled in plastic. We rarely stop to think about the vast amounts of water required to fill all these bottles and where it all comes from. We don’t link our purchase of a drink with Coca Cola’s history – one of unconscionable exploitation of water resources.
PlantBottle™ is another one of Coke’s more recent marketing strategies, casting itself as environmentally progressive! Although these containers are made from a blend of up to 30 percent plant-based materials, PlantBottles™ can hardly be considered ‘green’. This 30 percent portion is dependent upon a water-guzzling, soil-depleting, chemical-dependent crop – sugar cane. The other 70 percent is good old petroleum-based plastic.
The main thing being sustained by PlantBottle™ is our global habit of buying Coke’s beverages in disposable plastic bottles at the rate of nearly 1.6 billion servings per day. These bottles remain among the largest percentage of beverage containers that end up in the landfill.
Why buy precious water taken from someone else’s watershed? Buy a water filter appropriate to your local water conditions and a good reusable water bottle. Filter your own!
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