Why Choose Squamish Tap Water?

Choosing Squamish tap water is better for you, the environment, and your wallet.

Bottled water is expensive, strains our natural resources, and the empty bottles fill our landfill and waste streams.

Municipal water systems are regulated by Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality and are among the safest in the world.

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What the District is doing?

District of Squamish Council passed a motion to phase out the sale of bottled water on municipal property.

To support this initiative and encourage the consumption of Squamish tap water, the District is improving access to tap water at its indoor and outdoor facilities by increasing the number of fountains, filling stations, and dispensing systems.

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Why is this so important?

According to the Pacific Institute’s Bottled Water and Energy Fact Sheet:

• Between 40 and 80 percentof empty bottles end up as litter and/or are placed directly into the garbage and take up unnecessary space in landfills.
• Bottled water consumes significant amounts of non-renewable fossil fuels to extract, package and transport water, creating unnecessary air quality and climate change impacts.
• It takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 litre of bottled water.

It takes 2,000 years for one plastic bottle to breakdown in a landfill, and it never really leaves the soil. Bottled water is transported long distance via transport trucks and energy is also used by on board refrigeration methods.

There is no noticeable difference between most bottled water and tap water, either in taste or quality, so it's much more sustainable to get your water straight from the tap.

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What can you do?

Want to "Take Back the Tap" at your home, workplace or school?

Here are some resources you may want to check out:

David Suzuki Foundation "Take Back the Tap" Challenge

Polaris Institute: Inside the Bottle

The Council of Canadians: Unbottle It Campaign

If you want to "Take Back the Tap",  you can download the District of Squamish "Take Back the Tap" 11x17 poster free.

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