Provincial governments across Canada have given private bottling companies the right to pump 30 billion litres of fresh drinking water into plastic bottles, but the net benefit to Canada's citizens is a scant C$25,900 (HK$136,500). The approved allocations amount to 1,000 litres for each Canadian - a sizeable amount even for a country as vast as Canada, with water resources beyond the dreams of most of the world. But only British Columbia charges a user fee for extracting water.