Canada's drinking water is excellent

Near-perfect compliance score
Canwest News Service
December 10, 2009

Canadian drinking water is top quality, according to a Statistics Canada report.

Statistics Canada's first-ever survey of drinking water plants was released yesterday.

About 98 per cent of Canadian water treatment plants had perfect compliance with federal guidelines for drinking water in 2007. The guidelines say that no E. coli should be present in treated water.

"These drinking water plants produce high quality water for millions of Canadians," said Terence Nelligan, survey project manager.

The survey looked at two main types of bacteria, E. coli and coliforms. Both had higher concentrations in untreated surface water during the late summer and fall. A greater concentration of E. coli appeared to be linked to higher temperatures.

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