Have a cool one on the Sierra Club at the Hope Volleyball SummerFest

OTTAWA - Sierra Club Canada, in association with Event Water
Solutions, will help eliminate the need for plastic water bottles by
supplying free drinking water to the estimated 10,000 participants in
the Hope Volleyball SummerFest this Saturday.

“You can have fun, support a great cause and protect the environment
all at the same time," said Isabelle Gingras, Sierra Club Canada’s
Water Campaigner.

Thirsty volleyball players and spectators can use one of two water
stations to refill their own water bottles with cold, filtered
drinking water. There will be no need to buy disposable plastic water
bottles. The public is being asked to bring their reusable water
containers to the event.

Sierra Club Canada is sponsoring this event through its Action H20
campaign. The campaign is designed to draw attention to the need to
conserve and protect our water through personal and government action.

“There is always tremendous demand for water at large events like the
Hope SummerFest. Typically, this means a huge amount of waste to be
picked up, transported and recycled at a tremendous cost for the
environment and the city. Sierra Club Canada is working to change
that,” said Ms. Gingras.

Some Facts About Bottled Water

CONSUMPTION:

One billion bottles of water are consumed by Canadians every year.(1)

Nearly 30 per cent of Canadians chose bottled water as their main
source of drinking water in 2008.(4)

WATER USE:

It takes three litres of water for the production of a single plastic
bottle, which contains an average of one litre of water.(1)

ENERGY USE:

The production of the one billion plastic bottles from which the water
is consumed by Canadians requires 1.5 million barrels of oil per year.
That amount is about the production from the oil sands of one day. In
other words, it's one three hundred and sixty-fifth of the production
of Canada's oil sands.(1)

The production of bottles is 2,000 times more energy intensive than
tap water.(1)

Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That's
about how much oil was needed to produce and transport the bottle.(2)

PLASTIC WASTE:

Between 40 per cent and 80 per cent (it is difficult to specify) of
the bottles produced and used are not recycled.(1)

Amount of plastic used worldwide every year just to bottle water:
1,500,000 to 2,700,000 tons.(3)

Nearly eight out of every 10 bottles will end up in a landfill.(3)

(1) http://www.polarisinstitute.org/it039s_time_to_shelve_bottled_water
(2) http://nb.cupe.ca/privatization/the-facts-about-bottled-water
(3) http://manufacture-engineering.suite101.com/article.cfm/history-of-plastic-discovery-
invention-and-practical-use
(4) http://www.toxicfreecanada.ca/articlefull.asp?uid=69


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Contact:

Robb Barnes
Communications Intern
Sierra Club Canada
613-241-4611 x 230

Isabelle Gingras
Water Campaigner
Sierra Club Canada
613-241-4611 x 235