Karen Rathwell, volunteer with Water Watchers and Chair of the Guelph Wellington Coalition for Social Justice Credit: Karen Rathwell
Karen Rathwell had a 28-year career as a public elementary teacher and principal. After retiring in 2011, Karen pursued her keen interest in plastic waste and recycling as well as local and global water issues.
Karen brings her enthusiasm for life and love of water to her volunteer work, both at Water Watchers and as the Chair of the Guelph Wellington Coalition for Social Justice.
Karen encourages folks to engage in crucial local issues and to build a network of community members who support the social justice and water related challenges we are now facing.
Karen aspires to being a “good ancestor,” leaving behind a legacy of equity, pure air, soil and abundant, potable water for generations to come and believes this can be achieved through teamwork, commitment and a shared collective vision.
Over Our Heads — Rebecca Houston inspired this art installation created by WW volunteers, illustrating how plastic overwhelms Ontario’s waterways Credit: Photo provided by Karen Rathwell
Join me today as Karen and I discuss issues of plastic pollution, water as part of the public commons — a resource that belongs to everyone and should be managed in a way that benefits every member of society — as well as how to best safe guard this public resource in a time of increasing privatization and capitalistic greed.
Hear Karen talk about that serendipitous moment when as a principal she heard a student speak about why folks should not purchase bottled water and why Ontarians need a complete moratorium on the pumping and bottling of groundwater.
In 2010, Water Watchers first approached Karen to ask if her school would be willing to be a test school for their bottled water awareness campaign called, “Message in Bottle” where $20 stainless steel water bottles were provided to schools at a cost of merely $5 each.
The Message in Bottle campaign saw over 40,000 reuseable bottles distributed to students in Guelph and Wellington County and that is impactful given the fact that the city of Guelph relies on groundwater for all of its water needs including farming and industry. Guelph’s groundwater is facing increased demands especially from provincially issued water taking permits that are given to private equity firms like Blue Triton Brands.
The privatization of public water is not unique to Wellington County. In fact, Water Watchers has partnered with like-minded folks in Main, Michigan, Oregon and Florida in the United States as well as Mexico, Switzerland, France, Germany, Brazil, Nigeria and India.
Karen spent some time in Vittel, France where Netstle’s continued withdrawal of groundwater for international consumption has devastated a region that was once renowned for its soft fruit production.
Protest in Vittel, France (2019) Credit: Photo provided by Mike Balkwill
At one time Nestle was taking water from what I refer to as “the Devil’s Triangle.” That’s aquafers in the towns of Aberfoyle, Erin and Elora, which fall within Wellington County, Ontario.
Nestle was permitted to take the equivalent of up to 3.6 million litres per day in Aberfolye alone and extracting another 1.1 million per day from Hillsburgh. The combined total is over 686 Olympic-sized pools of water every year. The town of Elora managed to stop Nestle from obtaining a permit to extract 1.6 million litres of groundwater per day.
Fortunately, Water Watchers was able to make Nestle’s life so difficult that Nestle’s left North America. Unfortunately, the transnational corporation sold to the private equity firm Blue Triton Brands.
Water Watchers protest sign on Hwy 6 entering Guelph Credit: Curtis Gordon/Wellington Advertiser
Then, in November 2024 Blue Triton announced that it would end its Ontario operations by Janurary 2024 and was initiating a public sale of its Aberfoyle bottling facility.
At that time, Blue Triton merged with Primo Water Corporation, headquartered in Tampa, Fla., to form an American-Canadian corporation providing multi-gallon bottled water, water dispensers, self-service refill water machines, and water filtration appliances for residential and commercial customers across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel.
Water Watchers wants Blue Triton to consider, and remedy, the historical harms caused by its water extraction and bottling activities. To that end, Water Watchers demands:
🔶 Blue Triton facilitate a just transition for all current employees
🔶 Blue Triton returns ownership of the Nestlé / Blue Triton wells to local, Indigenous-informed stewardship and that these wells are never used for corporate profiteering from water again
🔶 Blue Triton compensates Six Nations for the years of water-taking without consent
And, that:
🔶 The Province of Ontario phases out all permits to take water for bottling
🔶 The Government of Canada legalizes the human right to water for all
Karen, tells Small Change listeners why the Ontario government should place a permanent moratorium on all for-profit water taking licences for corporations.
Given the fact that both the Aberfoyle and Erin water taking permits are up for renewal in 2026, Karen and I discuss what actions Small Change listeners can take to ensure a moratorium on water taking permits in Ontario so water remains part of the public commons.
We also discuss what actions listeners can take to ensure the government of Canada legalizes the human right to water for all — because, Water is for Life, Not Profit and everyone should Say no to packaged water!
Additional resources:
Link to my interview with Mike Balkwill and Sam Demby authors of A Winning Campaign here.
A Winning Campaign is available for purchase at smallchangefund.ca or from commonact.com where printed copies copies cost $25 and ebooks are available for $15.
Be sure to check out other available publications and ebooks at commonact.com.
Dan Jaffe, Associate Professor of Sociology at Portland State University, wrote an informative article that was published in The Conversation (December 2024): BlueTriton’s exit from Ontario shows the effectiveness of bottled water opposition movements.
Rebecca Jane Houston is a sculptor, painter and art teacher who has also worked in arts-based community development for many years. She works with many kinds of materials to create works that reflect our own actions back to us. Often working with waste, Houston explores the agency of matter and the power that refuse has over us through our bodies, on human/non-human interactions and on the built and natural environment. Rebecca completed her BFA and MFA at York University and currently lives in Toronto. She is a member of the Akin Collective. Check out her website here.
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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