P.E.I. businesses, public buildings encouraged to provide free tap water

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The creator of the Blue W program is encouraging more P.E.I. businesses and public buildings to offer free tap water, in part to reduce the use of plastic water bottles.

The Blue W program uses an interactive map to indicate locations where people can fill their reusable bottle without feeling compelled to make additional purchases. 

"It's a database of 27,000 shops, cafes, restaurants and public facilities where people can refill their reusable water bottle for free," said Evan Pilkington, director of Blue W, based out of Ottawa.

"It promotes the reduction of single use plastic waste because people are bringing their own bottles."

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Locations display a blueW.org decal in the window, indicating they're part of the program. 

"It's a little bit like a block parent program but for water," Pilkingston said. 

"That blue W should represent water, whether you're in Nova Scotia or Victoria or downtown Ottawa, it should just be a simple indication that you can access water, refill a water bottle for free and feel comfortable about it."

Pilkington said there are other positive outcomes to the Blue W program.

"It's a shortcut to healthy hydration, helping kids and family members avoid sugary, caffeinated drinks and a great way to appreciate the hard work of municipal tap water providers."

New Brunswick pilot

The program started in New Brunswick where Pilkington was working with a watershed association.

"There were a lot of tourism activities and events generating a lot of plastic waste and so we came up with this as an idea," Pilkington said.

"We found that once we ran a pilot and launched a few locations, more and more communities and more and more businesses wanted to get on board."

The Canadian Water and Wastewater Association formed a partnership with Blue W in 2018 and now Pilkington is hoping to expand to more municipalities, including on P.E.I. 

"They're hopefully going to be making inroads for us into different communities so that we can continue to spread this and make it a national campaign, much like a Trans Canada Trail," Pilkington said. 

"We would like to triple or quadruple in size. If we had 100,000 locations, I think that would create a measurable impact."

Municipal water, 'This is their product'

Pilkington has been in contact with municipal officials in Charlottetown, Stratford and Cornwall.

"The water department, this is their product, this is something that people involved in the water department are very proud of," Pilkington said.

"There's a lot of support from water departments and from public health." 

A spokesperson for the City of Charlottetown said they have Blue W decals from Pilkington they are willing to hand out.

Pilkington is hoping to find someone on P.E.I. to take on the Blue W program.

"Many communities start by providing us with locations where they have existing fountains, just providing that information, we can make them live on our site," Pilkington said. 

"We're a very small organization. Trying to spread the word is our greatest challenge."

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