It has just been revealed by Le Devoir that Aquafina, a Pepsi company, extracts over 540 million litres of water from the Montreal system every year. In compensation, they pay 526 816 $ in municipal taxes. It is unclear how this compares to other jurisdictions or how much it costs for the city to treat all that water, so we should not jump to any conclusions. That being said, the amount seems slightly low, amounting to 10 cents per litre.
With Québec set to impose new fees on water extraction, it may be time to take another look at the fees companies pay to produce bottled drinks. Take a look at our video with Hervé Pagot on les redevances sur l’eau for more information.
