Canada’s largest city, Toronto is considering banning bottled water in all municipal offices after another Canadian city, London in Ontario, issued a ban on bottled water after environmentalists began a public awareness campaign against it, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation reports.

David Miller, Mayor of Toronto, is threatening to do the same – despite the Toronto International Film Festival (North America’s biggest) fast approaching.

The festival is known as a showground for Fiji Water, which makes a huge effort to supply its product to all the main celebrities and associated hotels and functions.

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The water bottling industry in Fiji wants a tax-free status like other industries and says it is working on the compensation it needs from the government.

Jay Dayal, industry spokesman, said the industry also wants the government to help in marketing incentives and subsidise tax-free imports. “That way, the industry would be able to generate more foreign revenue for the country”, he said.

Dayal said they were trying to figure out what levels were paid to the water industry in other countries before making their own demands. “We are working on some form of compensation we are expecting from the Government.”

In July, Fiji’s Cabinet approved a 20 cents/litre export duty on all mineral water exports and a 20 cents/litre excise duty on mineral water sold for domestic consumption.

Mahendra Chaudry, the former finance minister, said that the main reason for the new tax was to stimulate conservation of Fiji’s natural resources. “Mineral water is a scare resource which will deplete and a fair share of returns has to be passed on to the nation,” he said.

Bottlers responded by stopping production and saying the new tax structure made it “highly unprofitable for our industry to bottle water”.

A BBC Panorama documentary made earlier this year revealed that a third of Fijians live without access to clean water.

A health centre in Fiji had to be closed last Friday because there was no water in the area, reports The Fiji Times.

Nawaicoba resident Rup Narayan said a notice was posted at his shop informing residents in the area that this was due to the water problems.

Mr Narayan said, “I then called the water supervisor in Lautoka to inform him of the problem and he assured me that three water trucks would service the area. We only got water that Friday and that was it.”

Mr Narayan said having irregular water supply was an everyday occurrence. He said residents in the area and the health centre were always affected by the poor water supply and that they relied on the service of the water trucks to store their water.

Senior water engineer Nemani Waqanivalu claimed water trucks were sent out last Friday and that another truck would go out on Tuesday. “Parts of Nawaicoba are getting water,” he said.

Despite the fact that one third of the population of Fiji has no access to clean drinking water, natural mineral water from Fiji is a common sight in restaurants and stores across the US and Europe.

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The bottled water industry that leaves a third of Fijians with dirty water

Several small towns in Fiji have had no access to clean water for the past six days, reports the Fiji Daily Post News.

Residents of Delainavesi, Lami and surrounding areas have been plagued by continuous water shortages with some people forced to taking water from nearby polluted streams. Many are questioning whether the Fijian Water Department is aware of the problem which has been affecting them since the beginning of the year.

A third of the population in Fiji does not have access to safe fresh water according to a BBC Panorama documentary, despite the south Pacific nation’s thriving bottled water industry. Bottles of Fiji mineral water are a common sight in the US where the largest brand, Fiji Water, shipped the equivalent of 200 million bottles last year.

Sitiveni Weleilakeba, 51, of Delainavesi said the whole area had run out of water from Wednesday last week and life was hard for many ordinary families.

“We have been facing this almost a year now, and we have been asking the Water Department to have mercy on us with our children,” he said.

Weleilakeba said that the situation had become so bad that some people had resorted to using nearby polluted streams to get water. He also said that students of Ballantine Memorial School had to go home early because of the water problems, which had been a regular occurrence.

Weleilakeba said that residents in the affected areas wanted to know the reason for the water shortages since they paid the same bills as other people from unaffected areas like the capital Suva.

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Environmental frustration over failed bottled water tax in Fiji
The bottled water industry that leaves a third of Fijians with dirty water

A multi-million dollar bottled water company was launched in Samoa at the weekend, reports Radio New Zealand International.

The 7 million US dollar firm, called South Pacific Water company, is aiming to compete with bottled water from another South Pacific island nation famous for its water – Fiji.

The company director, Tuifa’asisina Fred Grey, said that the new product will inject millions of dollars into the local economy. He said that overseas business partners had spoken of huge markets for South Pacific Water in the US as well as in New Zealand and Australia.

At the opening ceremony the Samoan Prime Minister, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, said he was happy that Samoa was finally producing purified bottled water that could compete overseas.

The Fiji government’s decision to repeal a proposed tax on bottled water has revived concerns that bottled water companies in Fiji are continuing to deplete the islands’ natural resources.

The Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry announced a 20 cent per litre tax on bottled water exported from the country in early July. The impetus behind the tax was to conserve the islands’ natural resources in a country where many people still suffer from contaminated water.

“Mineral water is a scare resource, which will deplete and a fair share of returns has to be passed on to the nation,” said Mr. Chaudhry. He said that “it was about time that water bottling companies pay duty for using Fiji’s mineral water resource”, reported Fiji Village news.

A BBC Panorama investigation in February showed that one third of Fijians do not have access to clean drinking water and many were falling ill and dying from typhoid and other diseases linked to dirty water.

The bottled water tax was proposed to correct this imbalance by stimulating the conservation of water whilst at the same time increasing government revenue.

However, the tax was dropped after pressure from the powerful water bottling lobby which said that the industry would be forced to close, resulting in hundreds of job losses.

The bottled water industry in Fiji accounts for over $150 million per year and employs more than 700 people.

A third of the population of Fiji does not have access to clean drinking water, a BBC investigation has revealed.

The report, for its Panorama documentary series, showed how many Fijians are falling ill and dying from typhoid and other diseases caused by a lack of safe, clean water.

The irony is that the South Pacific islands have a flourishing bottled water industry, worth over $150 million per year and employing around 700 people. Bottles of Fiji natural mineral water are a common sight in restaurants and on supermarket shelves across the US and Europe, and have been featured on a number of popular televisions shows.

In early July the Fijian government announced a tax on bottled water designed to conserve the island’s depleting natural resources, but it was forced to abort the project last week following pressure from the powerful water bottling lobby group.

The bottling companies subsequently halted operations and closed down factories, saying they could no longer operate effectively operate their businesses with the new tax.

The interim government’s finance minister Mahendra Chaudhry said the tax was not new and had been imposed in other countries to generate revenue in a similar fashion. “The bottled water companies do not have to observe this [tax], they can pass it to the consumers,” he said.

The protests were set to cost the country up to $3million in lost export revenue each week, forcing the government to drop the tax proposal last Friday.

For more information on the debate surrounding bottled water and the BBC Panorama investigation, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/7247130.stm

The government in Fiji has backed down from plans to introduce a 20 cents / litre tax on bottled water designed to curb the tide of luxury mineral water leaving the country for consumers abroad.

Bottled mineral water from Fiji is a multi-million dollar industry, generating over $150 million in revenue per year and employing over 700 people. Despite the abundance of Fijian bottled water on supermarket shelves in the US and Europe, one third of inhabitants on the south Pacific islands still live without access to clean drinking water.

The findings were revealed as part of a BBC Panorama investigation into the controversy surrounding the bottled water industry. It also showed that many Fijians were falling ill and dying of typhoid and other diseases related to contaminated water.

The Fijian government, whilst acknowledging the problem, had announced plans in early July to tax the export of bottled water, saying that water bottling companies should pay duty for exploiting the country’s limited supply of natural resources.

“Mineral water is a scare resource which will deplete, and a fair share of returns has to be passed on to the nation,” said interim finance minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

The tax was later scrapped after weeks of pressure from the water bottling companies who said the Fiji would stand to lose approximately $3million in export revenue each week whilst they halted operations in protest over the new tax.

A proposed tax on bottled water in Fiji has been scrapped following pressure by an industry lobby group on the island.

The interim Fijian government repealed its 20 cents per litre tax on bottled water following the factory closure of Fiji Water, the last of the bottled water companies to stop operations after the cabinet introduced the new taxation system.

Bottled water companies on the South Pacific island have welcomed the move. According to Fiji One News, the Fiji Bottled Water Institute, which represents nine companies, has said that consultations need to be held first on any future tax proposals before they are implemented.

Industry spokesman Jay Dayal said, “We are very pleased that at least the prime minister and attorney general intervened in the matter and resolved the whole issue. And now the bottlers will get together with the government and work out a form of compensation that is suitable to the government for the resource that we are extracting.”

Last year bottled water exports from Fiji counted for around $130 million, in an industry employing more than 700 people.

However, conservationists have pointed to the growing environmental costs associated with bottling water in Fiji. Typically plastic bottles are transported from China and then sent around the world to consumers in the United States and Europe.

A BBC Panorama documentary released earlier this year also highlighted the fact that a third of Fijians are still living without access to clean water. It showed that people were falling ill and dying of typhoid and other diseases related to contaminated water.

Bottled water giant Fiji Water has closed operations following the interim government’s decision to levy a 20 cents per litre tax on all bottled water, reports the Fiji Times.

The closure follows other water companies based on the South Pacific islands of Fiji who say they can no longer operate under the new tax.

Fiji Water is the second-largest imported bottled water brand in the US and has not been exported since July 1st.

“We have had to stop the purchase of raw materials and have nearly exhausted our supply of empty containers to load. We have been left with no choice but to stop all production and have shut down our factory,” Fiji Water said in a statement.

Fiji Water, which is sold in upmarket stores and restaurants and has appeared in many popular television shows, has been at the centre of controversy surrounding the bottled water industry in Fiji.

In February, an investigation by BBC Panorama reported that one third of inhabitants on Fiji do not have access to clean drinking water, with many people falling ill or dying due to typhoid and other contaminated water diseases.

It also revealed that the source of Fiji Water in the Yaqara Valley was originally discovered with British aid money as part of a plan to find water for local people.