MONTREAL - Ottawa is needlessly spending millions of tax dollars on bottled water, a leading public interest advocacy group said Wednesday as it called for the money to be spent on making sure tap water is safe and readily available.

Appalled by the figures obtained following months of research, the Polaris Institute was even more shocked when the government later clarified its spending, revealing it had actually spent more on bottled water than initially thought.

According to the study conducted by the Polaris Institute and the Canadian Union of Public Employees' Nova Scotia branch, seven federal departments spent more than $7.2 million on 131 different bottled water contracts between April 2006 and last month.

It was later revealed that some 28 federal departments had actually spent more than $10 million on bottled water. And for the five years through 2007, federal spending stood at nearly $15.7 million.

The report suggests the money could have been used to pay for more than 3,000 indoor or 600 outdoor water fountains.

"It could have also improved and significantly upgraded a water treatment plant on a First Nations community," said Polaris Institute spokesman Joe Cressy.

"We know for a fact that the government of Canada has spent money to provide bottled water in situations where drinking water was already readily available which leads one to further question why we're pouring money down the drain considering the state of water infrastructure in this country and the state of economy."

It's a situation that's particularly troubling, according to the report, since the country's public water infrastructure is in "dire" need of fixing.

Cressy said it's time for Ottawa to follow the lead of 41 municipalities across Canada that have committed to restricting bottled water while investing in tap water.

Already, he said, 33 colleges and universities have adopted policies to ban bottled water, and while no province has yet made the move, Ontario has issued a notice to staff encouraging the use of tap water over bottled water.

"There is a time and a place for bottled water," he said. "During an emergency situation or when drinking water is not available.

"But we know it's not a solution. The solution is publicly delivered drinking water."

Not an issue of tap vs bottled

The Polaris Institute is calling on the government to release details about the 131 contracts, including whether they were for water coolers or single-use water bottles and whether they were used for institutions that already had access to potable tap water.

Noting bottled water is "an environmentally harmful product that is 2000 times more energy intensive than tap water," the report also calls on Ottawa to reassess its practice of spending public money on the product.

Elizabeth Griswold, executive director of the Canadian Bottled Water Association, argued it's not an issue of tap water versus bottled water.

Other packaged beverages, she said, are her competitors and bottled water should be viewed as the healthy alternative to high calorie sodas and sugary fruit juices.

Many prefer bottled water for the taste and convenience, she said, noting there are many misconceptions about the product.

"One is the recycling rates for these plastic bottles," she said. "Our recycling rates are anywhere from 60 to 85 per cent.

"Another example is the amount of water the industry uses. According to various environment ministries across Canada, the bottled water industry uses a fraction of one per cent (of ground water in Ontario)."

She also suggested there's no scientific data to support suggestions that plastic water bottles give off harmful chemicals and she noted the average price of bottled water is 38 cents a litre.