Cases / Water use · Canada · 2017
Ontario bottled-water fee about 0.0005 CAD a litre; 2017 proposal to raise it
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Ontario charged bottled-water companies about 0.0005 CAD a litre for water taken, CBC reported in 2017, and proposed a higher fee that year. The case concerns water taken at near-zero cost.
What?
Ontario set a low fee for water taken by bottlers and proposed raising it. Global News
Where?
Ontario, Canada CBC
When?
2017 CBC
Who?
Gained
- Bottled-water companies — taking water in Ontario for about 0.0005 CAD a litre CBC
Lost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
A per-volume fee on water taken by bottlers, reported by CBC at about 0.0005 CAD a litre. CBC
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
CBC reported in 2017 that Ontario's fee for water taken was about 503.71 CAD per million litres, or about 0.0005 CAD a litre.
Global News reported that Ontario proposed raising the water bottler fee from 3.71 to 500 per million litres taken.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- None on record Not stated in the sources reviewed: whether the proposed increase was adopted.
- None on record Not stated in the sources reviewed: how much water bottlers took in Ontario, or the total fee revenue.
- None on record The description of the water as nearly free is an interpretation, not a finding in the sources.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Ontario bottled water fee (CBC, 2017)CBC · 2017
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- Canada narrowed federal environmental reviews in 2012 and again in 2025 Canada · 2012–2025
- Government of Ontario (Government) — here: set and proposed changes to the bottler water fee; there: Ontario government; subject of Bill 5