Dear Mayor Boddy, Deputy Mayor Wright and Councillors,
The Owen Sound Water Watchers are pleased that Council has approved the Operations Committee's recommendation to phase in water refill stations, as follows.
That, in consideration of Staff Report OP-17-058 respecting the Blue Communities Bottled Water Ban Proposal, the Operations Committee recommends that City Council:
1. Receives the report; and
2. Implements a phased program to increase access to tap water at City facilities over five years, at an estimated infrastructure cost of $9,100 per year without banning the sale of bottled water at City facilities.
We are requesting that the three refill stations already in the 2018 Capital Budget for the city hall renovation be allocated as follows:
- one for city hall
- two for highly used city facilities, such as the Bayshore, the Library or the Y.
Since three refill stations were already included in the capital budget, this is a great opportunity to move forward on this initiative without incurring additional costs.
According to the Manager of Contract Services' Staff Report to Operations, May 26, 2016,
In the absence of Ontario legislative requirements, staff have referred to the International Building Code (published by the International Code Council) . . .
For assembly areas such as arenas and community centres the International Building Code (IBC) requires one fountain for every 1,000 occupants.
It doesn't make sense to put more than one refill station at city hall.
The report concludes:
For the purposes of this report, staff are assuming that the following amenities would be required:
• Bayshore Community Centre – Three additional fountains/filling stations
• JMRRC/YMCA – One additional fountain/filling station upstairs on the Arena side
• Kelso Beach – three new fountains
• Harrison Park – two new fountains
We urge you not to reduce the number of refill stations in the 2018 capital budget and to install at least two in facilities with the highest usage.
Sincerely,
