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Ontario: Bottled Water Technical Guidance Document

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On December 2, 2016, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change posted a proposal for a guidance document outlining new requirements for bottled water Permit to Take Water (PTTW) renewals. There are two types of new requirements – procedural requirements, which would increase consultation, public reporting and transparency, and technical requirements that would enhance the scientific requirements.

The guidance document is intended to provide guidance for renewal applications of existing permits that authorize the taking of groundwater for the purpose of producing bottled water from the same location, for the same purpose, and for the same or lesser amount as currently permitted, all in accordance with the requirements imposed by O. Reg. 463/16 (Taking Groundwater to Produce Bottled Water), made under the Ontario Water Resources Act.

A decision has been made to proceed with the policy proposal; the guidance document has been updated to reflect the considerations of comments received during public consultation.

Taking immediate action on existing water bottling facilities by putting in place stricter rules is the second step of three early actions in Ontario’s strategy to protect groundwater in the province. These steps will give us a window of time to better understand groundwater in Ontario, while undertaking a review of provincial water taking rules, and examining a range of tools to better protect water.

  1. Moratorium: The first step was the 2-year moratorium, which took effect December 16, 2016, that puts a freeze on any new or increased groundwater taken for the purposes of water bottling. This pause enables us to conduct research, examine water charges to recover water program costs and other tools, and to have a discussion on: 

    • how we best protect groundwater in the face of climate change and increased demand 
    • other priority water taking issues, such as the need to prioritize water uses? or other points First Nations communities may regard as important improvements. 

  2. New stringent rules for existing Water bottling permits (this notice).

  3. New fee: The third step is the proposed new fee that would apply to water bottling facilities that take groundwater. The proposed additional fee of $500 per million litres would help recover the Ontario government’s costs of managing groundwater taken by water bottlers, including developing and sharing scientific research and monitoring, developing and implementing new requirements and policies, supporting outreach with communities and compliance.


On January 18, 2017, the ministry posted a proposed new fee for water bottling facilities that take groundwater on the Environmental Registry (Registry Number 012-9574) for a public review and comment period of at least 60 days.

The guidance document will be updated to reflect findings from the broader water quantity groundwater review and ongoing consultation on water management with Indigenous communities and organizations.

 Access the revised document. 

 

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