Water rights get political

Is B.C.’s fresh water the new oil?

Given the near-hysteria around a foreign corporation’s plan to continue to extract a relatively tiny amount of groundwater from an aquifer deep in the ground, one might be tempted to make that link.

But there is a crucial difference between the two. First, oil (and natural gas) are sold on the international marketplace and our water is not.

The fact that Nestle is the company involved in this is part of the reason for all the protests. It is not a popular foreign corporation, and the political left love to trash any idea of such a company getting access to any of B.C.’s resources.

Typical of the misinformation that clouds this issue is an online petition that has been rapidly picking up signatures. It’s breathless title (“Nestle is about to suck B.C. dry”) is, of course, completely fictitious and inflammatory.

Some perspective here. Nestle has been extracting a small amount of B.C. groundwater annually for more than a decade; it is not touching lakes or streams; the amount of water it is buying amounts to a proverbial micro-drop in a bucket compared to our water supply.

Finally, Nestle is not actually being “sold” the water. It is being charged a small administrative fee to continue to access it (that fee is roughly equivalent to accessing surface water from lakes and streams).

Back to the petition. People who sign it should take note that in doing so, they are actually agreeing with the premise that B.C.’s fresh water can indeed be sold internationally.

Enter former B.C. MLA Judi Tyabji, a zealous opponent of the very idea that we start selling B.C.’s fresh water.

When she got wind of the petition, she started a social media firestorm of her own when she posted on Facebook an analysis that pointed out it would be disastrous to start contractually “selling” Nestle or any other company fresh water for any price.

That’s because such a move could trigger free trade provisions that would allow those companies access to B.C. fresh water for ever.

Tyabji is now leading her own charge to battle against what she calls “gross misinformation” being peddled by those who should know better, and she’s getting a lot of attention (including from many folks who now wish they hadn’t signed that petition).

I don’t expect the B.C. government to change the rules regarding Nestle’s water extraction, no matter how many people sign a petition. But water will remain an emerging political issue.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global B.C.