The Canton of Zurich will not become a “Blue Community”
The Canton of Zurich will not become a “Blue Community”. This label would have shown that the canton recognizes drinking water as a public good and as a human right. However, the cantonal council refused to join this label on Monday. The majority thought it was useless.
The SP requested that the canton become a “Blue Community”. This organization campaigns for the human right to free access to drinking water and against the privatization of the water supply. The canton should act as a role model and set an example for water protection, the SP justified its postulate.
Cantons are not yet members of this international association, but the cities of Neuchâtel, St. Gallen, Bern and Dietikon in Zurich are. In addition, numerous universities, parishes, aid organizations and trade unions also belong to it.
However, the postulate falls through in the cantonal council. The council weeps it by a vote of 110 to 52. According to the SVP, there is no need to be tied to “ideological environmental groups”. The FDP criticized that this initiative “belongs in the dustbin of symbolic politics”. This label does not bring any added value.
GLP recognizes that the association’s concerns are important. In the canton of Zurich, however, the new water law is the right place for this. The new edition of the water law, which once failed at the ballot box, is currently being discussed.
The cantonal council had little desire for symbolic politics at its meeting two weeks ago. At that time he canceled the cantonal administration’s ban on the consumption of bottled mineral water. EDU, SP and EPP had demanded that only tap water should be served. One does not want to talk the administration into the water, but that was the majority at the time.
More on the subject: