Below is my opinion about the new PEI water act shared with CBC on March 17 2017
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Thank you for your time on the phone today and for giving me an opportunity to express my thoughts on the CBC platform. I think as a community, it is important for us to work things out together for the best interest of the place we call home. 

Just a recap on what we have discussed on the phone:
It takes more than 1800 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.
It takes approximately 500 gallons of water for one pound of chicken. 
It takes more than 850 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of wine. 
More than 1200 gallons of water is required for one pound of sheep.
and not to mention the countless amount of water needed for watering potato farms, golf courses, and many other activities. 
Where as, it takes 1.5 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water. 

Given these numbers, i think it is safe to assume that bottled water is, in a twisted way, a better mean to conserve water.

Furthermore, I have saw potential in this business since late 2013. My vision was to brand PEI as an island and help illuminate it and publicize it to attract more tourists and contributing to the growth of our economy through corporate taxes as well as driving foreign currency into our gentle island. The attraction of more tourists will also be beneficial to the job market for the province, helping create more jobs that will better cater to the tourism industry. 

My vision for my bottling plant was not just the mere concept of extracting as much water as I can to sell overseas with many profits. My plan was to make PEI an industry leader in this sector and help carve the path for other water corporations to learn from it. To start, I have been guided and helped by Dr. Adam Fenech, UPEI, to conduct an environmental study that will examine environmental risks to the environment. At the end of the day, you cant hurt what you love, and I love PEI. Second, I seeked the assistance of a local businessman, Ray Brow, who was generous enough to give me his time and share his experience and knowledge to better help me utilize my skills and fulfill my vision. Third, I conducted extensive studies on the water bottle industry as a whole and i came to realize that the waste plastic is also a big challenge that deeply affect our environment, both on a local scale and a global scale. I have actively searched for technologies that can then be applied to my vision that help make the water environmentally friendly, both on the input side of things and the output side of things. Upon my research I recently came across a new innovative solution that helps us utilize the shells of lobster and shrimp to create a fully dissolvable environmentally friendly "plastic" product that does not only not harm the environment, but also contributes to the environment in a positive manner. Based on the studies that I have concluded, my extraction would be for 500,000 gallons of water per year, allowing me to expose PEI to an elite global community that will afford and be interested in visiting PEI. 

By doing so, I would have exposed PEI as an industry leader in this industry, helped publicize the province, both on a touristic level as well as an innovation leader, and allow people to get to explore the island and its true Canadian culture, as well as help contribute positively to the environment. With this being said, my business plan would have required the equivalent of two "chubby" cows when it comes to the consumption of the water, given that it takes 1800 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef and cows are usually 1500 pounds in weight. 

By voicing my opinion, I am seeking to inform the public that there are ways to capitalize on resources without abusing them. It is also important for our current government to make sure that businesses in this sector are not actively harming our environment or affecting the resources of our future generations. Islands are vulnerable by nature and it is wrong to never act upon it. A ban on the industry only harms our island and limits our potential. We cannot fear what we dont understand, rather we have to understand and fully study it first and then act. 

I also have attached the numbers of water consumption of other industries so the government and the people are aware of how much water is being used to produce day to day products. This can act as an educational mean to not waste food, as wasting food is indirectly wasting our island water as well. 

​This past week we have been unfortunate enough to hear the news of the flooding in Houston Texas. This past Thursday an official with the Harris county flood control estimated that the impact of the flooding was that 70% of the country was covered with a foot and a half of water.

Casualties totalled 39 people of all ages which lead to Houston police to conduct house to house searches for survivors. At least 34,000 people are currently residing among dozens of shelters, conventions, Mosques, schools and over 11 churches in Texas.

Damaged homes are still being tallied as well as homes destroyed in total over 93,000 homes suffered extensive damages including almost 7000 that were initially destroyed by hurricane Harvey according to public safety records. These figures however do not include the more heavily populated sections of Houston as well as the other neighbouring cities which were hit by the flood such as Beaumont and Port Arthur. The actual number of casualties, injuries and damages are likely to be significantly higher once those unreachable areas are accounted for.

Thousands of residents still do not have access to clean drinking water including in the neighbouring cities previously mentioned where up to 118 000 people have been affected. Currently people are being served by 166 water systems in which boiling water before consumption is a mandatory safety measure.

Usually during similar situations chlorine and other disinfectants into drinking water systems in order to prevent the outbreak of illnesses like cholera and dysentery however doing so brings about it’s own set of risks. Most of the time sewage, plants as well as farm runoff and other organic matter reacts with the chlorine after heavy rains. These in turn form chemicals called Trihalomethanes which have been known to increase the risk of various cancers. 

So what does this mean for survivors and access to clean water during natural disasters? Our thoughts and prayers are definitely with those affected.  Tell us your thoughts below!