The director of corporate affairs for Nestle Waters Canada came to Orangeville recently to clarify the position of the beleaguered bottled water sector.

John Challinor appeared before Orangeville Council to express his concern about a possible ban on the sale of bottled water at the town's civic facilities, as well as defend his business against what he sees as myths and misconceptions.

When told of council's intent to ban bottled water at council and town committee meetings, Mr. Challinor was in agreement. "I think they did the right thing," he said in a later interview. "They didn't ban the sale of bottled water at town facilities.

"They were right to ban it at meetings. If you have potable water in your building, you should be drinking it."

The industry has not always been successful in its campaign to stop its product from being banned for sale in public facilities.

Last September, for example, Waterloo Region councillors banned the sale of bottled water from regional buildings and events in an effort to promote tap water they contend is a better choice.

Mr. Challinor contends that bottled water is not necessarily an alternative to tap water. He says it provides a source of water in situations where there is no access to a tap, such as outside work sites and sporting events.

Mr. Challinor also said Nestle Waters is not competing against tap water. Instead, he said, they are in the beverage market and in competition with such things as coffee, soda and beer.

Another criticism of bottled water is that it depletes the water table. Mr. Challinor maintains that his industry's product actually uses less water than the products it competes against.

He said every litre of bottled water requires 1.4 litres of water to process, while a soft drink requires three litres of water for every litre of product. (A Dufferin County study disagrees, saying it takes three litres of water for every litre of bottled water).

There have also been studies that conclude that the entire bottled water industry in Ontario consumes the same amount of water as 10 of the approximately 700 golf courses in the province.

There is also evidence that beverages not under the same environmental scrutiny as bottled water may, actually, use a lot more water in their manufacture.

A website produced at University of Twente in the Netherlands, waterfootprint. org, explores the amount of water used to make consumer goods, from the production of their raw materials that comprise them through to the finished product.

When taking into account the website's claim that a bushel of barley has a "water footprint" of 1,300 litres, the bottled water industry's claim that a litre of beer requires 42 litres of water to make does not seem far-fetched.

As well, waterfront.org suggests a 125 mL cup of coffee could require up to 140 litres of water to produce. From the cultivation of the coffee bean to the processing plant, water is in constant use in the coffee making industry.