NEWS RELEASE WELLINGTON WATER WATCHERS
Water Watchers is calling on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to immediately withdraw its Environmental Registry proposal 025-0730, which would allow water taking permits to become transferable assets. This change undermines hard-won environmental protections, violates public trust, and enables the unchecked expansion of corporate control over precious groundwater.
“This proposal is reckless,” says Water Watchers Executive Director, Arlene Slocombe. “Water permits should never be handed off like real estate deeds. Communities and ecosystems deserve a say every time water is taken from the ground —not just the first time. Particularly Indigenous communities from whose treaty lands this water is extracted while many still experience water insecurity”
This change comes just months after Ice River Springs acquired the troubled water bottling operations formerly held by Nestlé and then BlueTriton/Primo. With the addition of Aquaterra, this conglomerate now controls an estimated 85% of all bottling permits and up to 99% of the total volume of water taken for bottling in Ontario. This level of concentration raises serious red flags about both market monopoly and ecosystem impacts.
Ontario’s current rules rightly require that a new owner must apply for a new Permit to Take Water (PTTW). This process ensures:
· Environmental assessment of changing conditions;
· Public consultation and transparency;
· Review of purpose, volume, and ecological risks;
· Adherence to Indigenous rights and duty to consult.
Allowing automatic permit transfers bypasses all of these safeguards.
Water Watchers—alongside Indigenous leaders, youth, and civil society allies—has opposed industrial water bottling since 2007. We helped stop Nestlé in 2020 and BlueTriton in 2025. We will not stop now.
Posting this sweeping regulatory change during a holiday week with only 30 days for comment is a cynical move that further erodes democratic process and public engagement.
In addition to the moral affront of commodifying the life source on this blue planet, our collective objections are based on well-documented concerns about climate resilience, groundwater sustainability, environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and public opinion. Proposing that Water Taking Permits are a transferable asset in this time of increasing threats to water security from the Trump administration and from the ever deepening impacts and uncertainty of climate chaos is dangerous and irresponsible.
We call on all Ontarians to make their voices heard and tell Minister Todd McCarthy and Premier Doug Ford:
Water is for Life, Not Profit. Permits must not be transferable.
Deadline is August 1, 2025 for comments.
🔗 Submit your comment using our one-click tool: https://win.newmode.net/waterwatchers/waterpermitsarenottransferableassets-1
🔗 Submit Directly through the Environmental Registry of Ontario using content from the Background below to submit a personalized comment
ero.ontario.ca/notice/025-0730
