Defending the right to water a bottle at a time

By Laura Darche

When Celeste Digiovanni was making her way to her first course in environmental sociology, a bit late and thirsty, she discovered that the University of Ottawa has not sold bottled water on campus since 2010. Irked that such an ubiquitous commodity was not available and trying to understand why, she discovered that bottled water is a human rights issue and embodies major environmental and financial costs. She then understood the University’s decision — but still, bottled water comes in handy! So she came up with a portable, sustainable and economical alternative: the H2Ottawa bottle.

“My limited access to portable water was a small frustration compared to the complicated and -often times- life-threatening global and local(!) issues surrounding water rights.” – Celeste Digiovanni

A different kind of bottle

Made of infinitely recyclable aluminum, sold in vending machines at the same price as a disposable water bottle, refillable at the many campus water fountains, and reusable, the H2Ottawa is as practical and accessible as a plastic bottle, but without the environmental, economic and social impact. You can find it in vending machines, listed here. The bottle has also been sponsored by Desjardins for Alumni week last May and will be sold at the Bluesfest.

The University of Ottawa, a pioneer among Canadian universities on this issue, is one of 80 North American universities and colleges that have banned bottled water on their campuses¹. The ban was a way for it to be consistent with its commitment to sustainable development and reduce waste. The H2Ottawa project received a positive response from University employees who had the opportunity to support Celeste through her process.

“I think this is a perfect example of innovation. It’s homegrown, it mixes research with action, and it does all of that while actually contributing to making a better campus.” Jonathan Rausseo, campus sustainability manager at uOttawa.

Access to water: a basic right

Canadians, who mostly have unlimited access to drinkable tap water, have a tendency to take it for granted. After all, Canada has 20% of the world’s fresh water. However, the country only has 7% of the world’s renewable drinking water, which is a rare resource around the world². Globally, with population growth, world demand for water will exceed available resources by 40% in 2030³.

A lot of bottled water comes from rural areas without public water treatment systems and is sold in cities to people who already pay for running water. For Celeste, this is the tip of an even bigger issue, that of water privatization. Drinking water, as a vital, irreplaceable resource, can’t be treated like any other natural resource. Water privatization, which generates profits for private enterprise ($2.5 billion a year just in Canada⁴), doesn’t further consideration of access to drinking water as a protected human right.

So the next time you’re thirsty and don’t have a bottle on hand, go to one of the campus vending machines and grab your first H2Ottawa bottle. You’ll be contributing to a cleaner planet and taking a stand in favour of the basic right to water!

Sources

1. Ban the bottle
2. Government of Canada - Water: Frequently asked questions
3. Barlow, Maude. (2013) Blue Future. New York: The New Press.
4. The Globe and Mail - Stuck on the bottle
5. Feldman, David Lewis. (2012) Water. Massachusetts : Polity Press.
6. Gleick, Peter. (2010) Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water. Washington, DC: Island Press.
7. Strategy for a waste-free Ontario, Building the circular Economy [PDF 6.3 MB]
8. Estimated assuming a student would buy one bottle of water every day on campus. Jonathan Rausseo, campus sustainability manager, University of Ottawa (2015 interview).
9. City of Ottawa - Water Purification, quality and delivery
10. Government of Canada - Bottled water
11. CBC news - Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study