Cruise ships would be exempt from proposed water export ban

The P.E.I. government'splan to ban water exports from the Island will not affect cruise ships which fill up with water in Charlottetown.

The draft of the P.E.I. Water Act, which was released last week, includes a provision that would prevent water being exported from P.E.I. The province has made it clear that would apply to bottled water exports. However, the province has confirmed that other industries, such as thecruise shipand the beer industry, would not be affected.

Similar exemptions elsewhere

The draft Water Act includes an exemption to the exportrule for,"the ordinary course of carrying water in a vehicle vessel or aircraft." That applies as long as the water is to be used by people or animals while inside or onboard. The province confirmed that cruise ships would fit that definition.

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A spokesperson for the department of Communities, Land and Environmentnoted that similar exemptions for vesselsare in place in a number of other provinces and territories, including Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

How much water?

The City of Charlottetown sells water to the Charlottetown Harbour Authority, which sells it to cruise ships. Neither the city nor the Harbour Authority would say exactly how much water cruise ships buy each year.

The province said if every cruise ship that came to Charlottetown were to fill up with water, the total amount would account for less than 1 per cent of the city's total water allotment.

Charlottetown Coun. Eddie Rice, chair of the city's Water and Sewer Utility, said not all cruiseships that dock in Charlottetown fill up with water. He also said the amount of water used by cruise ships each year has been "going down steadily," for the last four years.

Rice also noted the large economic impact of cruise ships visiting Charlottetown.

Government is now asking for more input from the public on the draft Water Act.Public meetingsare slated around the Island starting March30.People can also give feedbackonline.