Bottles to go down the drain?
March 11, 2026 3:18 PM
Of the marketing strategies that have been used in the 20th century, perhaps the most successful is that utilized in the bottled water industry. Convincing consumers of a necessity to buy bottled water so as to avoid the dangers of municipal tap water has permitted bottling companies such as Coke, Pepsi, and Nestlé to reap enormous profits in what has become one of the fastest growing markets.
While, from the corporate viewpoint, it is a success, the problems with bottled water are numerous.
The financial cost borne by consumers is drastically inflated when compared to tap water - literally thousands of times the price. If one were to drink the recommended eight glasses of water per day, they would spend close to $2,000 per year on single bottle purchases off the shelf. The prices in vending machines are even higher.
The environmental costs are also dire. The production of the bottles themselves requires the use of oil (as is the case with most manufacturing processes) and the transport of bottled water from bottling facilities to shelves and vending machines increases the carbon footprint of each bottle. For example, the bottles of Aquafina found in StFX vending machines are bottled and transported from bottling facilities in either Quebec or Ontario.
Disposal of bottles is also of concern as they are sent to accumulate in landfills, and themselves contain chemicals.
Timothy Hayman, StFX student and president of the Aquatic Resources Society, is launching a campaign to inform students of the impacts of bottled water and to eventually make StFX the 11th campus in Canada to ban bottled water.
Coinciding with Canada Bottled Water Free Day and the Inaugural Canada Water Week (March 21-25), the campaign hopes to raise awareness regarding hidden costs of bottled water. Hayman hopes to show the campus that “bottled water presents a number of serious problems, including environmental, health, social, and economic issues.”
Hayman points out that a ban is not the only goal of the campaign, “Of course removing the sale of bottled water on campus is, in itself, not enough. We also need significant investment towards improving the availability of public water sources to students.”
Ideally, this would mean investing in more water fountains and showing that municipal water supplies available to students are of the same quality as the water found in vending machines. Investment in water infrastructure at the campus level is important, and municipalities across Canada would be wise to follow suit.
While consumers are paying several thousand times the price of tap water for bottled water, there is concern that Canadians are not investing enough in water infrastructure.
The Council of Canadians, which advocates water as a fundamental human right and necessity to life, as well as a valuable public resource, is calling on the federal government to create a $31 billion fund to support municipal water infrastructure. Many cities across Canada are now facing problems of outdated and rapidly deteriorating pipes and pumping facilities that, if left unaddressed, could develop into a serious national problem.
Morally, bottled water raises the question of just how ethical the buying of bottled water is – while over one billion people around the world do not have access to potable water. A further issue is that which sees public water resources being sold to bottling companies, who in turn sell it back to the public as a manufactured product.
One of Canada’s most controversial water bottling facilities is located in Guelph, Ontario, where Nestlé pumps out 1.6 million liters of water per day, at a fraction of a cent per liter. This water is pumped from an aquifer in a highly urbanized area, which raises concerns as to whether or not long-term contracts with bottling companies are in line with prudent water management strategies.
There are many obstacles that may keep bottled water in vending machines for the foreseeable future, particularly as the university is bound by contractual obligation to Pepsi Bottling Company. Raising awareness about the detrimental impacts of bottled water on the environment, as well as promoting the safety and cleanliness of local tap water could, as a result of the campaign, help reduce the amount of bottled water sold on campus.
The safety of municipal water is quite evident by the fact that the Canadian Bottled Water Association estimates that one quarter of bottled water is filtered tap water and not from snowy Alps so often pictured on their labels.
Simply giving people the information to make an informed choice of tap water over bottled water is one of the primary goals of this campaign.
“It’s time for us at StFX to show that we do care, and that we are interested in becoming one of the country’s leaders in sustainability and the protection of our valuable water resources. Ten campuses in Canada have already gone officially bottled water-free. We want StFX to be the 11th.”
