After this law is passed, plastic bottles could be banned
A bill tabled Thursday aims to regulate the use of water in Quebec and opens the door to a ban on the sale of water in single-use bottles.
The law will make it possible to prohibit or limit the sale and distribution of water from the aqueduct system (from the tap) “in particular in single-fill containers”, specified the Minister of the Environment Benoit Charette during the presentation of his bill.
The creation of a Blue Fund, with an initial budget of $500 million over five years, is also planned. The fund will be used, among other things, to finance all measures that the ministry will carry out in connection with the protection, restoration, enhancement and management of water.
The bill also affects the Regulation respecting the dues payable for the use of water. Its objective is to significantly increase the amount to be paid for water for businesses.
This amount would increase from the beginning of 2024 from $2.5 per million liters (Ml) to $35/Ml for those who use water without capturing it. For the others, it would then go from $70/Ml to $150/Ml. The new rates would thereafter be indexed by 3% each year. To the rate of $150/Ml would also be added a royalty of $350/Ml for bottling activities.
The threshold of water use necessary to have to pay royalties would also increase in 2026 from 75,000 liters per day to 50,000 so that a greater number of companies are affected.
“Today, we are taking an important step to give ourselves the means to do even more, as we had promised,” commented Agnès Grondin, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of the Environment.
