Hamilton’s Board of Health will significantly reduce the availability of bottled water and sugary drinks at all recreation facilities and arenas over the next three years.
In a 6-3 vote, members supported a recommendation crafted by public health officials that will "increase healthy food and beverage choices" as part of an action plan that will be overseen until 2021.
"We do need to be sustainable," said Ward 1 Coun.
Aidan Johnson, who initially proposed banning bottled water and sugary drinks from city-owned facilities in 2016.
"We are within our mandate."
About 80 Canadian municipalities have restricted the use of bottled water.
The City of Toronto imposed a ban on bottled water that included parks, recreation facilities and civic centres.
Although volunteers will be "encouraged" to eliminate the sale of bottled water and sugary drinks by city staff.
Public health officials don’t know how much revenue the city could lose with the decision, but on average Hamilton receives about $22,000 from bottled water and $44,000 from sugary drinks annually.
He wanted staff to conduct a survey of people who use recreation facilities about their opinions about limiting the sale of bottled water and sugary drinks.

The mayor of Flint, Mich., is battling the state’s governor over her city’s access to safe water, three years after intolerable levels of lead were discovered.
Republican Gov.
Mayor, Karen Weaver, threatened to sue the state because she said the city is still reeling from the effects of the crisis.
"You still have a public health issue and you have to protect yourselves, so the need for bottled and filtered water is still real," Weaver said Tuesday in an interview with Cheddar.
The governor’s office announced its decision to end free bottled water for Flint after nearly two years of test results showed decreasing lead levels in the city’s running water.
In a statement, Snyder’s office said taxpayers have provided $350 million to Flint, in addition to $100 million the city received from the federal government.
Weaver told Cheddar she will not rest until the medical community signs off on Flint’s water quality.
"You put us in this situation and you need to make us whole and see us getting through this process."
Flint residents have little faith in their water supply, and trust in the government’s ability to address the systemic issues has eroded.
"For a year and a half, we were told the water was good, when people know brown water is bad," said Weaver.

Hamilton’s Board of Health will significantly reduce the availability of bottled water and sugary drinks at all recreation facilities and arenas over the next three years.
Aidan Johnson, who initially proposed banning bottled water and sugary drinks from city-owned facilities in 2016.
Hamilton Coun.
Brian McHattie first introduced the idea in 2010.
Hamilton’s plan will exempt Tim Horton’s Field, golf courses and concession operations that are operated by volunteers.
Although volunteers will be “encouraged” to eliminate the sale of bottled water and sugary drinks by city staff.
The Board of Health’s recommendations still have to be voted on at Hamilton council May 23.
A number of people, including students from Allan Greenleaf Elementary School and Westdale Secondary School, urged councillors to ban the sale of bottled water.
Sarah Dickson, a McMaster University professor, said that to manufacture a 1litre bottle of water, requires 27 litres of water.
The association has stated that bottle water “does not compete with tap water” and that “the majority of Canadians drink tap water at home and bottled water on the go.”

Bridge Magazine is committed to sharing the best environmental journalism in and around Michigan, an effort called #EnviroReads.
MLive “Gov.
Rick Snyder’s administration is quickly learning the high price of picking up the tab on attorney bills related to Flint water crisis,” Ron Fonger reports.
“Spending by the state to prosecute and defend current and former employees on matters related to water crisis cases has eclipsed $23 million with no billing slowdown on the horizon.” Jalopnik “For more than a decade, (Diane) O’Nions herself has gone through countless cases and jugs of water, neatly stacked in her garage, wrapped in their blue labels.
It’s what she relies on for just about everything — drinking, cooking, brushing her teeth — and it’s all because her household water supply has been contaminated by excess salt, and now, she says, arsenic,” Ryan Felton reports.
“The source of the excess salt and arsenic, she alleges, is her neighbor, America’s No.
1 automaker, the one that has operated a famed testing facility nearby known as the Milford Proving Ground since the 1920s and has paid for bottled water deliveries to her family’s home and their neighbors since 2014: General Motors.” Toledo Blade “As toxin-producing algal blooms similar to those that foul western Lake Erie each summer continue to rise exponentially throughout the world, a growing body of scientific data is emerging that shows they are getting harder to control because of climate change, invasive species, and global trade,” Tom Henry reports.
“Their potential long-term impact on humans also means more cancer risk — not just short-term stomach cramps and diarrhea — and there needs to be a greater research emphasis on the role of nitrogen in driving up their toxicity,” Battle Creek Enquirer “Michigan has some unarguably gorgeous natural scenery — rolling hills of emerald green, plump wildlife and glittering blue waters — but it’s a lot harder to enjoy Michigan’s great outdoors when you use a wheelchair,” Natasha Blakely reports.
“Michigan Operation Freedom Outdoors was started to change that.” Lansing State Journal “Bill and Carole Jean Stockhausen don’t get electric bills.
Instead, Consumers Energy has cut them checks for more than 30 years,” Haley Hansen reports.

GREENWICH — Concerned residents of the northwest corner of Greenwich met with water and health officials to gain a better understanding of what impact a chemical contaminant might have on the neighborhood and its water supply.
According to health officials, only one residential well in the King Street area, close to the Westchester County Airport, has tested positive for Perfluorooctanic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS).
Town health authorities said two wells previously tested positive in February, but another round of tests showed only on verified positive result, exceeding the threshold of 70 parts per trillion.
More than 30 local residents attended the informational session at the Harvest Time Church with representatives from the Connecticut Department of Public Health, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Greenwich Department of Health.
The state tested 10 residential wells in the area earlier this year.
Testing in February found elevated levels of a chemical used in a firefighting foam at the airport in New York state, leading to a round of testing in Greenwich.
News of the water issue has led to concerns in the neighborhood.
Glenn Harvison lives in the neighborhood, and he said his family was paying attention.
The minister said he would like to see additional testing on a regular basis — “what about next year, and the year after that?” he asked, after the initial attention had passed.
Connecticut State health authorities said they were working with their counterparts in New York state to find solutions to the issue of water contamination.

The timing made it even worse when just days before bottled water distribution ended in the city.
That’s why Noise said she just can’t bring herself to trust the tap and relies strictly on bottled water, something the state stopped providing Flint over a month ago.
Nestle has agreed to deliver three semi-truck loads of water a week, that’s about 100,000 bottles of water.
The cases will be distributed by volunteers at help centers across the city on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
“Our goal is to operate sustainability,” said Jason Manshum, who works with Nestle waters.
“To be able to provide people with healthy hydration and in communities like Flint where it’s desperately needed.
We are happy we can help to contribute.” Flint Mayor Karen said with the state backing out before all the lead service lines have been replaced, getting a company like Nestle to help out has been a godsend.
“We’re thankful for this because we’re still in need of the bottled water as we get through this service line replacement.” Noise said she truly appreciates Nestle, local churches, and city leaders for this safe drinking water but really just wants one thing.
“Please, please get our water fixed,” Noise said.
Copyright 2018 WNEM (Meredith Corporation).

According to MLive, this adds up to 1.6 million bottles.
“We’ve been working closely with the Flint community to understand their current needs, and how we can best help meet those needs,” Jason Manshum, Ice Mountain community relations manager, told MLive.
On April 6, the governor of Michigan announced the state was discontinuing its distribution program, which started providing free bottled water to Flint residents in January 2016.
Governor Rick Snyder said in a statement at the time, “We have worked diligently to restore the water quality and the scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended.” Many Flint residents disagree with this assessment and continue to use only bottled water for drinking and household and hygiene tasks.
The Flint water crisis was prompted by an April 2014 decision by the city to switch Flint’s water source from the Great Lakes Water Authority to the Flint River.
The city is still working to replace all of its lead and galvanized steel lines of pipes, many of which leached lead when water from the Flint River flowed through them.
A March report published by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality showed elevated lead levels in the water of Flint’s public schools.
Nestlé has been supplying bottled water to Flint public schools since January 2016, when it pledged 1.5 million bottles.
This was just four days before the governor announced the elimination of the free bottled water program for Flint.
According to Science Alert, “[Flint] residents will have to pay some of the steepest tap water prices in the country: around $200 per month for water they aren’t even sure is safe to drink.” The announcement that Nestlé would pay this same $200, but per year, has been met with outrage by Flint residents, with some announcing plans to boycott Nestlé prodcuts.

But one researcher says a hazard is lurking in these seemingly healthy drinks.
News Center 7 Anchor Cheryl McHenry looks at these bottled water worries, and takes a closer look at what we’re really drinking.
WATCH THE SPECIAL NEWS CENTER 7 REPORT on Monday, May 14, beginning at 5 p.m. That bottled water you so often drink is likely contaminated with microplastic particles, according to a new investigation from researchers at the State University of New York at Fredonia and journalism organization Orb Media.
Your bottled water is probably contaminated with tiny plastic particles, health experts say Here are five things you need to know before you grab for that plastic water bottle again:
Through an analysis of 259 water bottles from 11 brands sold across nine countries, including the United States, scientists found 93 percent were contaminated with an average of 10.4 plastic particles per liter of water.
That’s twice the amount of contamination typically found in tap water.
"In this study, 65 percent of the particles we found were actually fragments and not fibers," lead researcher Sherri Mason told AFP.
Major brand names such as Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestle Pure Life and San Pellegrino were among the water bottles tested.
Previous research has linked synthetic chemicals often found in plastic to “certain kinds of cancer to lower sperm count to increases in conditions like ADHD and autism,” Mason said, prompting calls for further studies on the possible health implications of plastics pollution.
According to the research, the plastic debris found in the water bottles included polypropylene, nylon and polyethylene terephthalate, which is used to make bottle caps.

Thirsty?
As the mercury climbs this summer Chicagoans — including tens of thousands of kids enrolled in summer camps at city parks — will have about 16 percent fewer outdoor water fountains to rely on because lead testing once again has shown the city’s tap water is tainted.
The Chicago Park District, in cooperation with the Department of Water, has launched its “seasonal flushing” of stagnant water held in pipes below the city’s 1,200 outdoor water fountains—something begun after Flint, Michigan’s issues with lead in drinking water put a spotlight on water quality.
But it’s not a merely routine event; the city also will deactivate at least 16 percent of those fountains because lead testing has shown they’re a danger to users, reducing the city’s overall inventory to about 1,000 safe outdoor park fountains.
“Those 200 would have had at least a lead detection.” Beyond detection of lead content greater than 5 parts per billion, the maximum allowed in bottled water by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the water fountains that will be kept off this summer also will have been deemed “low-traffic,” Maxey-Faulkner said.
The latter may show unsafe lead levels when controlled by button, but drop to safe levels when the water runs constantly, Maxey-Faulkner said.
The Tribune this spring conducted its own analysis into water quality in the city and learned lead was found in nearly 70 percent of the roughly 2,800 homes tested in the past two years.
In more than 100 homes across the city where lead levels reached 15 ppb to 270 ppb in testing kit samples, water department officials conducted follow-up testing that involved drawing 10 consecutive 1-liter samples.
Remediation by local government is required when more than 10 percent of tested homes have lead levels of 15 ppb, according to WBEZ, which first reported on the city’s intent to keep hundreds of water fountains dry this summer.
Ingesting tiny concentrations can permanently damage the developing brains of children and contribute to heart disease, kidney failure and other health problems later in life.

The taxman believed the new system would help the government seal revenue loopholes and cub illicit trade in counterfeit goods.
The previous manual method of affixing Excise and Revenue Stamps on excisable goods was only limited to tobacco, wines, spirits and beer but experienced alleged rampant counterfeiting of stamps, resulting in manufacturers under-declaring volumes of their products, leading to under collection of excise tax.
READ ALSO: National Youth Service facing fresh probe over disappearance of KSh 10.5 billion However, Omtatah challengeed introduction and implementation of the new legal instrument (EGMS) on numerous grounds.
In his petition, he argued KRA and Treasury violated the Constitution, Statutory Instruments Act, the Fair Administrative Action Act, and Public Procurement Act and Parliament’s suspension of implementation by KRA of the EGMS.
The activist argued the standards and counterfeiting capabilities of EGMS was unnecessary since it duplicated the work of Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and the Anti-Counterfeit Agency.
He argued the decision to impose excise tax on bottled water, fruit juices and vegetable juices was contrary to Article 43 (1) (a), (c) and (d) of the Constitution.
The activist further argued the decision to have manufacturers and consumers bear the administrative and compliance costs associated with the implementation and operation of EGMS was unreasonable and contrary to Article 40 (2) and (3) of the Constitution.
He prayed that KRA, Treasury and SICPA be permanently prohibited from implementing the EGMS and that the public officers who approved use of public funds to procure the system from SICPA be held liable for any loss arising from its use.
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