BY CINDY CHEN, JESSICA SUN AND ALYSSA YAN

The earth’s surface is covered by 70% water. Only 3% is fresh water,and less than 1% is accessible for personal uses.

How would you feel about a brand name company being able to access your water supply in the middle of a drought, while withdrawing the water that you and your community rely on for only a price of $2.25 per one million litres?

You may be familiar with the brand name Nestle, known for their countless products ranging from food to cosmetics. The Switzerland-based company is currently extracting millions of litres of water from Hope, B.C., and profiting through their bottled water industry and much more.

Up until 2016, Nestle has been profiting off our water for free, until they were required to pay $2.25, which only covered their access fee, per every million litres. However, this enormous corporation withdraws millions of litres of water while paying Hope less than $15 a day.

Their plastic water bottles alone are sold around the world and back to the citizens of Hope for over $6 for a pack of 12 bottles. What is supposedly a human right for everyone is being taken by large corporations like Nestle, and sold back to us without us even considering where the water comes from or why we buy it.

Troubled by this, a group of 30 youth is taking action and raising awareness for this problem through social media, newsletters, petitions, videos and more. By doing this, we hope Nestle will stop stealing our water and take responsibility of the damages they have created on Hope.

Cindy Chen, Jessica Sun and Alyssa Yan are Grade 11 students in the Leadership program at Windermere Secondary. Cindy enjoys learning about social justice and sustainability. Jessica is passionate about environmental sustainability and social rights. Alyssa is dedicated to giving back to her community through volunteering ranging from organizing community events to teaching kids piano.

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