On January 29, 2007, I requested from City Council to pass a motion eliminating municipally sponsored bottled water from council, staff, committee and public meetings. On February 9th, 2009, I presented a follow-up address.
Webpage Info for: A Motion to Eliminate Municipally Sponsored Bottled Water in St. Catharines
Requesting a Motion
On January 29th, 2007, I addressed the newly elected council for the City of St. Catharines requesting them to endorse a motion to eliminate municipally sponsored bottled-water.
The motion was moved by Councillor Andrew Gill, seconded by Councillor Greg Washuta and passed unanimously by council.
This webpage includes my presentation, the formal motion and research material relevant to the issues.
On February 9th, 2009, when an update progress report came before council, I was granted an appointment to council and gave my follow-up address council.;
(Disclaimer:I apologize for any links within any of my websites which may have become inactive over time.)
TrendLinks ( ¶ ) tie into SustainableNiagara.ca's Sustainability Resources Portal, to offer summaries of, and links to related websites. GlossaryLinks ( Δ ) tie into the Sustainability Glossary to offer definitions and informative resource links and StatLinks ( § ) tie into the Stats/Info Portal to offer valuable insights.
Try this >¶ <, this >
Δ < or this >
§ < to see what you get for Sustainability.
Mayor Brian, Council and Staff;
I am here to ask council to officially move and endorse the motion I have brought forward asking to eliminate non-essential bottled water from city premises and meetings.
In the interest of time and wanting the luxury of taking an occasional dramatic pause, I decided it would be best not to race through the entire motion and my presentation.
The Niagara Water Quality and Protection Strategy's Citizen's Advisory Committee, of which I was a member, had profound input and influence on the watershed planning strategy and recommended action programs. At our insistence Education and Awareness Building was moved from the last to the highest priority of the strategy's 11 action programs.
This motion contributes towards meeting the objectives of that action program intended to:
"Increase participation in activities that will help protect Niagara's water for the future.
Increase awareness of water quality and quantity issues in Niagara.
Encourage behaviour change and lifestyles that are in harmony with the environment and the NWQPS vision"[1]
Since "Water for Life in Niagara" was published a number of outside studies on bottled water have come to light. The jests of these studies reflected within the motion, indicate that bottled water is no safer, nor better tasting than tap water. In fact, according to the United Church's recent organized campaign to declare homes and workplaces bottled-water free zones[2], "two of the largest bottled water sellers, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, use municipal water,"[3] comprising some of the 25-40 percent mentioned in the motion of all bottled water using tap water.
But there are even deeper moral questions that beg asking, the three most relevant being:
Why should any freshwater-abundant region such as ours be importing generic water from elsewhere while adopting our own protection strategy?
Should public officials condone bottling activities that result in environmental degradation and ecological damage, at additional taxpayers' expense, as long as we have efficient and less destructive systems of delivery?
Can we, as a community, afford any longer to ignore the global threats likely to affect our future socioeconomic well-being and sustainability?
Our own Federal government finally acknowledges the contribution of our human activities towards climate change¶§Δ and environmental degradation. Systems of local governance can expect increasing pressure to address those activities that may soon, if they don't already threaten the financial and physical well-being of all residents. We can no longer exclude ourselves from global efforts to identify and alter those harmful activities to which we have contributed. This motion in part augments the City of Vaughn's motion endorsed by council in October, regarding excessive packaging. For our children's sake if not our own, we too must begin to seek out ways of altering our activities. For those reasons the content of this motion includes related activities we should have addressed years ago. And while this motion hardly scratches the iceberg, it does send out powerful, timely messages to our regional marketplace.
A Motion to Eliminate Municipally Sponsored Bottled Water in St. Catharines [Continued]
Water is essential to every aspect of our daily lives, as has been cheap energy.¶§ Global forces are building which already threaten our easy, affordable access to food supplies. Since these are expected to affect both imports and exports, communities the world over have already begun looking towards a relocalization¶§Δ of imported goods as part of their emergency preparedness¶ strategies. So must we.
Regarding consumers' right to choose; this motion does not suggest an outright ban but rather a commitment by this city's governing body to eliminate from council, staff, committee and public meetings, municipally sponsored bottled water-particularly as long as quality tap water is readily available. Having said that however, the matter of beverage alternatives offered for them wanting something other than water will also need addressing.
Given increasing awareness for the impact of our human activities on climate change¶§Δ and sensitivities to an end of cheap oil¶§, importing beverages, indeed all food supplies from outside Niagara not only undermines our regional capabilities for self-sufficiency, it perpetuate emissions we must now curtail. This motion therefore provides for excellent step-off points for strengthening our regional economies.
On January 18th, our local media ran stories about our grape juice growers standing on the brink of collapse due to Cadbury Schweppes Beverages' no longer buying grapes from any of Ontario's 104 growers.[4] Just the day before the City of Portland's Peak Oil Task Force released their draft report with recommendations to "Act Big, Act Now." I'll cite the passage for 8 and 9 of their 11 summary recommendations:
"Sustainable Economic Development fosters the growth of businesses that can supply energy-efficient solutions and provide employment and wealth creation in a new economic context.
8. Preserve farmland and expand local food production and processing. 9. Identify and promote sustainable business opportunities."[5]
Promoted through a proliferation of international relocalization networks, the eighth recommendation in particular reiterates what is fast becoming a standard emergency preparedness¶ strategy throughout North American, if even at the grassroots level. The '100 mile diet'¶§ programs draw attention to a serious lack of regional self-sufficiencies for even the most basic of food supplies and ingredients. Furthermore, according to Portland's Peak Oil report, "world food production could be cut by 60 to 70 percent…straining the ability of low-income households to put food on the table".[6] If our capabilities for self-sufficiency no longer exist or are indeed threatened, then a follow-up to this motion should be entertained which would directly assist in creating a regional market demand for locally produced beverages and food substances.
Anticipating questions of logistics specific to this motion, one of the first motions passed by the newly formed Strategic and Corporate Planning Committee of council back in 2004, was a division of governance and administration. It is within the intent and spirit of that motion that I draw council's attention to the fact that what I am requesting is a motion of governance. The details of fulfilling this motion should be left in trust with our city's administrators, and those departments for which bottled water might presently be considered essential.
Otherwise, I close by calling upon this council to rise to both the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change¶§Δ and peak oil¶§Δ, for our future's sake.
Thank you.
WHEREAS"an estimated 25"[7] to "roughly 40 percent of bottled water begins as tap water,"[8] and
WHEREAS sources for bottled water imported into Niagara can originate from water-stressed areas such as India where "Dasani's bottling activities have caused water shortages for over 50 villages"[9] while the Municipality of Regional Niagara has an enviable supply of fresh purified water, and
WHEREAS Regional Niagara has invested in the development of, and has received praise for initiating 'Water for Life', a regional water quality and protection strategy for purposes including long-term watershed planning, and
WHEREAS prices for bottled water "can cost up to 10,000 times more"[10] than tap water yet bottling corporations pay no special extraction fees, but it is the public, not those corporations which pay the external costs of such environmental and ecological damages as "degrading river, endangered species, depleted spring, dying trees, lost diverse wetlands, ruined fisheries, altered flora, and threatened fawna"[11] resulting from water extraction and bottling activities, and
WHEREAS the "shift to bottled water could undermine funding for tap water protection, raising serious equity issues for the poor,"[12] and
WHEREAS"in Canada, only 15% of the waste generated [by bottled water] is recycled or composted, 5% is incinerated and 80% ends up in landfills" often still containing water which is trapped for up to 1,000 years[13], the time it takes for the plastic to break down, and
WHEREAS almost 40% of the PET bottles recycled in the US in 2004[14] and half of the 10 per cent of bottles recycled in Britain are shipped as far away as China, and
WHEREAS tap water "is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, [while producing and] transporting bottled water [and recycled PET bottles] long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels"[16] the prices of which are expected to rise significantly over the coming years, and
WHEREAS according to Consumer Reports 8/00, "eight of the ten 5-gallon polycarbonate jugs tested left residues of the endocrine disrupter, bisphenol A, in the water"[17], and a recent "study of bottled water has found concentrations of potentially harmful antimony[18] increase the longer water is stored in a certain plastic"[19], and
WHEREAS governments at all levels including our federal government now acknowledge that our human activities contribute towards altering our environmental and ecological systems, and
WHEREAS it is incumbent upon council and staff to instill public confidence in our local tap water and to insure continued and enhance water service infrastructure for the City.
NOW THEREFORE be it resolved by the Municipal Council of the City of St. Catharines that it hereby, commit to the elimination of all non-essential bottled water from municipal offices and sponsored committee meetings.
BE IT FURTHER resolved that:
Staff be entrusted to fulfill the will of council;
Municipal departments that deem bottled water as essential consider how they can fulfill the will of council;
This motion be circulated to the Municipality of Regional Niagara and all municipal councils throughout Niagara requesting their support and action;
That the citizens, residents and businesses of St. Catharines be assured of the quality of our tap water and encouraged to support the consumption of regionally produced water-based products.
The motion was officially moved by Councillor Andrew Gill, seconded by Councillor Greg Washuta and passed unanimously by council, January 29, 2007
January 23, 2007 - "Council staff and politicians in [Liverpool] are to be asked to make the switch to help save the planet, councillors will be told at tomorrow's meeting of the city council. … Last year, the council spent £48,000 buying commercially bottled water for its staff and councillors." ~ Council to ditch bottled water;http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=council-to-ditch-bottled-water&method=full&objectid=18516806&siteid=50061-name_page.htmlJanuary 4, 2007 - "Bottled water has become part and parcel of an office meeting - but councils are being urged to serve tap water to help the environment. Not only is bottling and transporting water a huge waste of the earth's resources, the plastic bottles it comes in are not biodegradable and most go straight to landfill." Norwich Evening News: Councils bottle green water scheme ~ http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/Dec. 15, 2006 - "Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is still refining his lean, green city-government machine. His new target: bottled water. Anderson has asked city staff - he says it's voluntary - to stop buying individually sized water bottles for public meetings and office events." ~ Rocky battles the bottle (of water), Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_4843898Nov. 29, 2006 - "Since 2003, Denver taxpayers have swallowed at least $117,000 of costs for bottled water and water cooler services for elected officials, city employees and their guests. With that much money, the city could have paid two full-time police officers for an entire year or brought as many as six new police cruisers. … In Los Angeles, the water department spent $90,000 on bottled water through a $1 million advertising campaign, according to the Los Angeles Times" ~ Water-Gait: Drink's on you: As city picks up pace for bottled refresher, taxpayers pick up tab; Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News, http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5176429.htmlOct. 13, 2006 - Councillor Tim Stevenson requests "report to find out how much bottled water is being sold and distributed from city hall facilities" intending "to introduce a motion to ban bottled water on city property". ~ Council wades into water debate: Ban bottles on Vancouver city property and promote tap use, politician urge,http://www.workopolis.com/servlet/Content/fasttrack/20061013/BCWATER13?gateway-workMarch 22, 2006 - "Ms. Anne Levesque, representing Karios, Development and Peace and SOS Eau/Water Sankwan … noted that bottled water was a form of privatized water and that they would like to support publically controlled water services. The group is asking Council and citizens of Moncton [N.B.] to declare their home and workplaces bottled-water free zones." ~ Public Presentations/Petitions/Appearances; Moncton, N.B. Council, http://www.moncton.org/agendas/2006/M20060320.pdf (accessed Dec. 13, 2006)
Note! This appeal was made as part of an organized ban of bottled water by the United Church
Water Sources
2006 - "Water disputes in one village in Kerala [India] in the far southwest of India became an international news story in 2003, when angry farmers accused the local Coca-Cola factory of drying up their fields to fill its bottles." ~ When the Rivers Run Dry: Journeys into the heart of the world's water crisis; Fred Pearce, Key Porter Books, 2006
Feb. 2, 2006 - "In India, for example, water extraction by Coca-Cola for Dasani bottled water and other drinks has caused water shortages for over 50 villages" - BOTTLED WATER: Pouring Resources Down the Drain; Earth Policy Institute, http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update51.htmApril 23, 2005 - "In the cases of Aquafina and Dasani, bottled water is no more than tap water taken from municipal supplies that is reprocessed and marked up for resale. To get an idea of how much this water is marked up, compare 1.5 litres of New York City tap water (often flaunted as some of the cleanest water in North America) and the same quantity of Dasani. New York tap rings in at about 1/100th of a penny. A bottle of Dasani, however, costs around $1.20. A 1999 Natural Resource Defence Council (NRDC) study titled Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype? estimates that it costs 'from 240 to over 10,000 times more per gallon to purchase bottled water than it does to purchase a gallon of average tap water.'
Companies that use groundwater (or "spring water") have it a little harder than those who use municipal water, as they have to pay for drilling and infrastructure. However, they are not required to pay a fee or tax for extraction as they would for oil and gas." ~ From the Tap to the Bottle and Back Again: A look at bottled water and privatization; The Dominion: News from the Grassroots - http://dominionpaper.ca/features/2005/04/23/from_the_t.htmlSept/Oct. 2003 - "The number one (Aquafina) and two (Dasani) top-selling brands of bottled water in the U.S. both fall in the category of purified water. Dasani is sold by Coca-Cola, while Aquafina is a Pepsi product. As U.S. News & World Report explains, 'Aquafina is municipal water from spots like Wichita, Kansas.' The newsmagazine continues, 'Coke's Dasani (with minerals added) is taken from the taps of Queens, New York, Jacksonville, Florida, and elsewhere.' Everest bottled water originates from southern Texas, while Yosemite brand is drawn from the Los Angeles suburbs."
"The WWF argues that the distribution of bottled water requires substantially more fuel than delivering tap water, especially since over 22 million tons of the bottled liquid is transferred each year from country to country. Instead of relying on a mostly preexisting infrastructure of underground pipes and plumbing, delivering bottled water-often from places as far-flung as France, Iceland or Maine-burns fossil fuels and results in the release of thousands of tons of harmful emissions. Since some bottled water is also shipped or stored cold, electricity is expended for refrigeration. Energy is likewise used in bottled water processing. In filtration, an estimated two gallons of water is wasted for every gallon purified."
"Pat Franklin, the executive director of the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), says nine out of 10 plastic water bottles end up as either garbage or litter-at a rate of 30 million per day." ~ Message in a Bottle: Despite the Hype Bottled Water is Neither Cleaner nor Greener than Tap Watter; Sept/Oct 2003 issue, http://www.emagazine.com/view/?1125 (Accessed Dec. 18, 2006)
Resource Intensive (waste)
January 2, 2007 - "The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management has pointed out the substantial fuel costs, and thousands of tonnes of harmful emissions involved in transferring over 22 million tonnes of bottled liquid from country to country every year. In contrast, tap water is provided by a comparatively efficient infrastructure of underground pipes and plumbing. Although the system will use some energy, it will be significantly less than that involved in shipping and trucking bottles around the globe (containing water that has already been pumped and piped and purified), and so will help to reduce our impact on climate change."
"The Food Standards Agency will now provide tap water on request for all meetings held at Aviation House and from January 2007 will also be able to provide mains-fed bottled water in 70cl re-useable bottles. This latter option will be chilled and bottled on the premises. There will also be a facility to carbonate water on site. This will replace the current system of bought-in bottled (still and fizzy) water thereby saving on waste (boxes), energy (transportation) and promote re-use of bottles."
"Some bottled water is shipped or stored cold, so energy is used in refrigeration and, of course, energy is used in the factories that process and bottle the water. And an estimated two gallons of water are used, for every gallon of water purified to put into the bottle" - Have you bottled it? How drinking tap water can help save you and the planet;http://www.sustainweb.org/page.php?id=267Feb. 18, 2006 - "Most water bottles are made from PET plastic, a crude-oil extract that accounts for about 0.25 per cent of the world's annual oil consumption. The majority end up in landfill sites, where they take about 450 years to break down, or are incinerated. Of the 10 per cent of bottles that are recycled, more than half are shipped to countries such as China, 13,000km away, to be processed, and produce around half a million kilos of CO2 emissions getting there." - Turn back to your taps - we all pay the price for bottled waterhttp://www.newsdesk.org/archives/000519.phpMarch 1999 - Manufacture and shipping of billions of bottles causes unnecessary energy and petroleum consumption, leads to landfilling or incineration of bottles, and can release environmental toxins. The long-term solution to our water woes is to fix our tap water so it is safe for everyone, and tastes and smells good." ~ Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?; National Resources Defense Council~ Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?; National Resources Defense Council; http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp
Contaminants/Toxins
January 03, 2007 - "Indeed the French Senate advises people who drink bottled mineral water to change brands frequently, because the minerals in particular brands may be harmful in high doses, if consumed over a long period" - Health warning over safety of bottled water By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2121674.eceDecember 24, 2006 - "A study of bottled water has found concentrations of potentially harmful antimony increase the longer water is stored in a certain plastic. A Canadian scientist now working in Germany tested 132 brands of bottled water from 28 countries in containers made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). About 20 came from Canada."
"Antimony is a white metallic element that in small doses can cause nausea, dizziness and depression. In large doses, it can be fatal.
Most of the Canadian samples had initial antimony levels of about 160 parts per trillion, but six months after sitting in plastic the level had doubled. Still, levels were well below Health Canada standards of 6,000 parts per trillion." - Water bottles leak chemical: Information Liberation (Canadian) - http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=18977December 18, 2006 - "Dr. Shotyk's research has concluded that when bottled water is stored at room temperature for six months, many brands come very close to reaching the Japanese drinking water limit for antimony which is 2000 ppt (parts per trillion). In comparison, the groundwater from Springwater and Tiny Townships in Simcoe County, southern Ontario, contain an average concentration of only 2 ppt of antimony. … According to Larry Wade of the Ottawa Water Study/Action Committee: "If people knew that after only six months of storage, a chemical that may be hazardous to human health could reach levels in this water unacceptable in countries like Japan, they would likely think twice about relying on bottled water." - The Polaris Institute - Ottawa: Is Bottled Water Safe?http://www.polarisinstitute.org/ottawa_is_bottled_water_safeMarch 1999 - "City tap water must meet standards for certain important toxic or cancer-causing chemicals such as phthalate (a chemical that can leach from plastic, including plastic bottles); some in the industry persuaded FDA to exempt bottled water from regulations regarding these chemicals. … "While we reasonably may choose to use bottled water for convenience, taste, or as a temporary alternative to contaminated tap water, it is no long-term national solution to this problem. Bottled water sometimes is contaminated, and we don't use it to bathe, shower, etc. -- major routes of exposure for some tap water contaminants. A major shift to bottled water could undermine funding for tap water protection, raising serious equity issues for the poor. ~ Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?; National Resources Defense Council; http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp
My name is Bernie Slepkov, from 213 St. Paul Street. I asked to speak tonight because of the report updating council on the City's progress in fulfilling the motion of January 2007, eliminating non-essential bottled water.
Last August in a Standard article reporting on London, Ontario's motion to forbid the sale of bottled water at any municipal facilitiesLondon, Ontario's motion to forbid the sale of bottled water at any municipal facilities with water fountains, Mayor Brian, you attempted to reclaim our title as the first North American community to pass a formal motion pertaining to bottled water. Perhaps if the story of our 2007 motion had made the front rather than the fourth page of the Standard, our title would have been firmly established.
In responding to London's motion Brian, you then suggested that out of common sense we shouldn't refuse bottled water to hundreds of people during a hot summer festival in Montebello Park.
Until the West Nile scare a few years back, Montebello had a drinking fountain for everyday park users. Coincidently, once that fountain was removed, those summer festivals to which you referred, some publicly sponsored, now confiscate foodstuff including bottled water, from anyone entering the park. I ask that these two matters be quickly rectified.
In that same news article, Brian acknowledged the broader environmental arguments I, and others make regarding bottled water, fingering this council as being the most likely to take the next step. In the interest of any debate and possible follow-up resolutions to tonight's report, I want to contribute some talking points.
Maude Barlow and Sid Ryan were at Brock last month promoting the 'Unbottle It! Kick the Bottle … Tap into Public Drinking Water!' campaign. A presentation by Jen Coorsh, an environmental policy student at Brock, and former OPIRG employee noted that the newest Brock Plaza Building while proclaiming good sustainable design, totally lacks public fountains but has two vending machines per floor.
Now isn't that a model of corporate and consumer sustainability?
Even though the focus of the issue before this council is bottled water, for me-and apparently you, Brian-common sense dictates that the focus of the next steps not ignore bigger pictures.
In my 2007 address to council, I posed three moral questions surrounding this issue. Two of them remain un-addressed and are even more pressing now. As today's popular saying goes; "A good crisis shouldn't be wasted".
Why should we, a freshwater-abundant region, be importing generic water? And
Can we, as a community afford any longer to ignore the global threats likely to affect our future socioeconomic well-being and sustainability?
I'm not talking climate-change or peak-oil here. I'm talking basic right to livelihood. For me common sense dictates that we begin to view this issue-along with the growing crises of collapsing industries and 8.8% unemployment-as opportunities for more sustainable regional economic activity. Wouldn't it be great to see beverages produced and sold once more from the juices of our fields and orchards, 'bottled' in Niagara, bearing a 'Niagara Original' logo?
But getting to that point means admitting this issue extends beyond just 'bottled water'. It encompasses a myriad of drinks and consumables, each one sold in containers later found mostly everywhere but the landfill, a future case of drinks, or the ingredient of the next best consumer product. We must admit that our societies generate more waste than can be managed, and for which taxpayers, one way or another, are on the hook while corporations are not!
"Only one percent of the total North American materials flow ends up in, and is still being used within, products six months after their sale."
The book I'm reading from which that little tidbit came[20], defines sustainability simply as, "the possibility that human and other life will flourish on the planet forever". John Ehrenfeld, a recognized pioneer in industrial ecologyindustrial ecology, and author of 'Sustainability by Design: A subversive strategy for transforming our consumer culture' states further that "the root cause of unsustainability is that we are trying to solve the apparent problems of the world, large and small, by using the modernistic frame of thinking and acting that has created" unsustainability in the first place; equating that to Einstein's "problems can not be solved by the same level of thinking that created them".
President Obama's inaugural address called for nothing short of "remaking America".
All of this speaks to the need for changing our mindsets. Seems to me a good time for seeking out how best to start remaking Niagara.
At some point we need to trust that the best resolutions to our local problems are likely to come from ourselves, our neighbours, our children, our friends, and not from distant corporations surrounded by opulence yet now dependent on our governments. One recently successful example l can point to was how this administration reached out to the wider community for ideas on how to best honour Walter Ostanek.
Not all of us really expect this council or staff to provide final answers to these problems. We do, however, expect you to provide the framework upon which solutions can be built. And speaking of which, I hope the Director of Economic Development's impending report regarding new directions for his department reflects some of these philosophies. Either way I would ask that council direct Mr. Oakes to see that it does.
It would be a significant victory to see council suggest and direct staff to suggest directions most likely to encourage and support Joe or Jane Q. Public in filling our growing municipal and regional needs. Perhaps in seeing that writing going up on the wall, corporations like Pepsi, Coke, Nestle, and Cadbury Schweppes will make greater commitments to our sustainability in order to ensure theirs.
This issue of bottled water is very much emblematic of what has gone wrong with 20th century society. I say we now use this issue, and everything related, to define our starting points for the next century.
I had hoped council would have picked up on those pressing issues when I claimed January 2007's motion barely scratched the surface of our municipal and regional needs. I asked then for a follow-up motion to be entertained, to assist in the creation of a regional market demand for locally produced beverages and foodstuff. I call again upon this council and city staff not to let good crises go to waste.
We must emerge a Niagara renewed. We need to turn our minds towards the possibility that we can flourish in this region forever. Like the author of 'Sustainability by Design' wrote "it will take a strong dose of unreasonableness to break the logjam of conventional thinking."
I guess after all that Mayor McMullan, Council and Staff, I'm proposing that you consider trading in common sense for unreasonableness, and thank you for allowing me to do so.
Now discuss.
In a related development: In May, 2009, the Niagara Falls city council was on the verge of reconsidering a February 2009 decision to ban all plastic bottled beverages from their municipally owned and operated facilities. Click here to download a copy of my address to council and some local newspaper articles regarding council's decision.
Disclaimer: The information provided through For Legacies' Sake is without charge as a convenience to visitors. Any reference to products, services, links and other information not produced by me, Bernie Slepkov does not constitute recommendation, endorsement or sponsorship. Nor does it particularly reflect the views and/or opinions of Bernie Slepkov, as an individual. I apologize for any links which may have become inactive over time.
