To the Editor,
Re: Action needed on water, Letters, May 22.
It is important that the community have additional info about the Blue Community initiative that was presented to council.
Letters to the editor have stated that Blue Communities only ask that water be recognized as a human right. The three resolutions from the Council of Canadians ask for much more than just declaring water as a human right.
The three resolutions that must be acknowledged to become a Blue Community include: 1. Recognize water as a human right; 2. The city promotes publicly-financed, owned and operated water and waste-water services, and; 3. Ban the sale of bottled water in public facilities and at municipal events.
In the report given to council it was stated that council designated Nanaimo as a Blue Community, which it did not.
So council rescinded the motion and asked staff for a report in its entirety which looks at the implications of the three resolutions, the costs associated with upgrading facilities with drinking water stations, and the banning the sale of bottled water in public facilities and municipal events.
As a city councillor, it is my job to make evidence-based decisions, not decisions based on just my moral beliefs. There is a place for morality, but evidence should always supersede.
It is my belief council has done what the community expects it to do and make decisions based on fact.
Coun. George Anderson
Nanaimo