There are two principles politicians must follow if they are to honour their public office: They must be guided by the public interest and they must elevate this collective wellbeing above special interest groups.
These rules were penned by Marcus Cicero — one of ancient Rome’s finest philosophers and constitutionalists — as a road map for public servants.
Despite these simple principles, governments are often driven by calculated political agendas that set priorities contrary to the best interests of the public. Although provincial policy decisions are anything but simple, often involving a complex balancing act of stakeholders, there is one resource so crucial that it ought to be exempt from political special interests: water.
British Columbians deeply appreciate our province’s abundant rivers and pristine lakes. It is here that a quarter of our nation’s fresh water flows and where natural splendour is key to our B.C. pride.
In accordance with these values, regional water regulations are implemented seasonally to prevent over-consumption of this valuable resource. Metro Vancouver, a political body made up of 21 Lower Mainland municipalities, implements regional sprinkling regulations every summer for the collective wellbeing of residents.
If Metro Vancouver residents are able to prioritize the greater good, why has the provincial government been unable to place safeguards surrounding the extraction of our precious groundwater?
Nestlé Waters, a subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestlé and the largest water bottling company in Canada, is extracting groundwater from Hope virtually free of charge.
Due to the recently enacted Water Sustainability Act, corporations pay a nominal fee of $2.25 per million litres to access our province’s aquifers. At the mandated rate, when Nestlé sucks up roughly 265 million litres of groundwater annually — enough to fill more than 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools — it pays B.C. a mere $600 for the privilege.
Meanwhile, Nestlé takes in $334 million in revenue from our water on the international market. This is a great bargain for the company but it leaves B.C. high and dry.
This low rate makes it doubtful that the act was implemented with any adherence to the Ciceronian code, as it is certainly not safeguarding the collective wellbeing.
Water is a critical and finite resource. Across our province, there are thousands of families, and entire Indigenous territories, that still do not have access to clean drinking water. While we impose restrictions on summer sprinkling for the common good, there are no corresponding safeguards that regulate corporations from siphoning hundreds of millions of litres from our aquifers.
With record droughts projected in the coming decades, and the horrific scenes of the Fort McMurray fires fresh in our minds, it is crucial we reduce corporate exploitation of our groundwater. The B.C. government can design and implement a fairer regulatory process. A comprehensive review of the policies surrounding groundwater extraction by corporations that profit while paying a pittance for our water would potentially lessen the depletion of our groundwater while preserving and prioritizing it for residents.
Cicero’s ancient principles still ring true: Safeguarding the wellbeing of the populace must remain the priority of public servants. The work of Metro Vancouver on water restriction bylaws is in line with this priority. The province, however, has its work cut out for it in elevating the public good by regulating Nestlé’s unbridled extraction of our groundwater. It’s the Ciceronian thing to do.
Adel Gamar is a Coquitlam resident and hockey dad to five daughters. He’s also a former UNESCO education specialist and current policy fellow at the Harvard Law School.
@AdelGamar
