By Rhonda Massad
www.thesuburban.com
Laval executive committee vice-chairman David de Cotis felt inspired by a group of Grade 7 and 8 students from Odysée des jeunes middle school during their third annual science fair last week. The students put forth an initiative to ban plastic water bottles from their school in an effort to advocate less waste in landfills.
During the event, they asked visitors to sign a resolution to stop using non-recyclable plastic bottles. The objective is to bring their resolution to the school board’s council of commissioners to pass.
According to de Cotis, who also represents St. Bruno district on city council, the bottles create needless waste in garbage landfill sites. Even if a plastic bottle is recycled, he said, it still wastes the non-renewable energy needed to process it.
“If a middle school can do it, why can’t the city take an initiative and set an example,” de Cotis told The Suburban in an interview.
According to the city’s website, by the end of 2014, Laval will have completed a $187.3 million invested in three state-of-the-art drinking water treatment plants. The rebuilding work helped modernize these installations and increase their capacity by 16 per cent.
“Tap water in Laval is of exceptional quality,” de Cotis said. “Environment Quebec deemed it five times superior to the [government standard for drinking water], so why not take advantage of it?”
In 2012, Laval’s Ste. Rose and Pont Viau treatment plants were among the only four facilities in Quebec to earn five-star awards for their water.
Laval also received the Lucien l’Allier award that year. The distinction hailed the effectiveness of the city’s drinking water conservation program.