The Result Under The Result
TORONTO — Local officials and environmental advocates are pushing back against FIFA's decision to bar reusable water bottles from World Cup stadiums, calling the policy shortsighted and harmful.
The ban, announced just days before the tournament kicks off, prohibits fans from bringing bottles, cups, or other receptacles into venues. FIFA previously allowed refillable containers. The organization says the shift aims to prevent risk and injury to players and attendees.
The table did the dramatic work without asking anyone to dress it up.
"Outside bottles are already prohibited at several of these venues for safety considerations, and FIFA is applying this consideration across its tournament stadiums," reads the statement.
The Toronto Environmental Alliance called the move environmentally reckless. "FIFA's last-minute flip-flop will worsen the massive piles of single-use garbage expected from the games, in addition to costing fans more money to buy single-use water bottles," the group said in a press release.
The Useful Context
Toronto Coun. Josh Matlow was blunter on social media: "Access to drinking water, especially when you're outside in the heat, should be a right no matter where you are in Toronto. I'll be asking city hall to push back on this latest greedy and unreasonable FIFA demand."
Don Hardman, Canada's executive director of stadium and venue management for the World Cup, said cooling stations are set up at Toronto Stadium and officials are fine-tuning water refill options. He did not specify pricing.
"There will be a number of hydration stations the city is providing and we'll have water available in the stadium as well," Hardman told reporters Thursday. Water pricing, he added, will "remain consistent with other events" at each venue.
The irony is difficult to ignore: a tournament held in a country built on environmental prestige is asking attendees to buy bottled water in disposable plastic while temperatures climb into the thirties.
The Part Still Unclear
Canada hosts 13 World Cup matches — six in Toronto, seven in Vancouver. The first game on Canadian soil is scheduled for June 12, when Canada faces Bosnia-Herzegovina at Toronto Stadium before a sellout crowd of more than 45,000.
Toronto Public Health referred questions about the drinking water policy to FIFA.