Water is for Life, Not Profit.

In January of this year, BlueTriton (formerly Nestlé) closed their doors for good here in Ontario. As we celebrated that win, we knew we must remain vigilant, watching for who would purchase these troubled operations next. At a Town of Erin Council meeting in February, we learned that White Wolf Property Management, a company of Ice River, purchased both the Aberfoyle and the Hillsburgh sites. We have now learned that they have applied for a permit to take water with the intent for water bottling.

Together, we have been abundantly clear that Water is for Life, Not Profit.

As we prepared to respond to a new application by this company, we noticed that on Wednesday July 2, the Ford government quietly posted a proposal to the Environmental Registry to change a hard won regulation that would ensure that water taking permits are not a transferable asset. The current requirement that new owners must apply for a new Permit to Take Water (PTTW) is essential to maintaining public trust and environmental integrity.

Posting this proposal quietly on a holiday week, with only a 30 day comment period  is yet another example of how this government puts corporate profiteering over the wellbeing of ecology and democracy.

In addition to the moral affront of commodifying the life source on this blue planet, our collective objections are based on well-documented concerns about climate resilience, groundwater sustainability, environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and public opinion. Proposing that Water Taking Permits are a transferable asset in this time of increasing threats to water security from the Trump administration and from the ever deepening impacts and uncertainty of climate chaos is reckless and irresponsible. 

Let’s flood their offices with opposition and let the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks – Todd McCarthy and Premier Doug Ford know, in no uncertain terms – that water permits are not transferable assets.

For our waters,

The WW team

PS – Did you know we’re 50% funded by individual donations? Help keep Water Watchers strong with a donation of any amount here!

Info on Ice River: While Ice River frames itself as a family business, it is actually a business empire with companies across the US and Canada. With their recent purchase of Primo Brands (the newly merged company of BlueTriton and Primo Waters) along with all their other companies, Ice River stands to be taking up to 99% of all water that is permitted to be bottled in Ontario.

It is involved in vertical integration, bottling water, selling bottled water, and running recycling facilities, as well as making other plastic products, selling food and hay, and running a biochar facility. It was founded in 1995 as a small bottled water company by James and Alexandra Gott. They received $15 million from an equity firm in 2010 according to this post. Its other sources of funding are not clear, but it has been purchasing facilities across North America. 

And they have just purchased some very troubled waters here in Aberfoyle and Hillsburgh 

Along with many ally organizations and in solidarity with youth and Clan Mothers from Six Nations – we first kicked Nestlé out of the continent (2020) and then kicked BlueTriton out of Ontario (2025). Why Ice River thinks its fate will be any different is a mystery. We will not stop until permits for bottled water are phased out in this province.