Water Filters & Purification Equipment		Your Total Water Solution.

Commercial/Industrial Services \| Residential & Products \| Request Info \| Site Map \| All prices in CDN Dollars

Drinking Water Quality Guidelines

The following guidelines provided are Canadian, American, and the guidelines set forth by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Click on each underlined contaminant for a brief description and more information. Most information on contaminants has been adapted from the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality Sixth Edition, 1996.

Selection of Maximum Limits Permissible in Drinking Water

The following table is a brief selection of some contaminants and physical conditions that may be present in drinking water. A dash (-) indicates that there is no information available regarding possible limits.

Units are in milligrams per liter (mg/L) unless otherwise noted. Milligrams per liter are equivalent to parts per million.

Contaminant	*Canadian Limits (mg/L)**	US Limits (mg/L)**	WHO Limits * (mg/L)**
Aluminum	0.1	0.05 - 0.2	no limit listed
Antimony	0.006	0.006	0.018
Arsenic	0.010	0.010	0.01
Asbestos	-	7 million fibers per liter	no limit listed
Barium	1.00	2	0.7
Beryllium	no limit listed	0.004	no limit listed
Boron	5.00	no limit listed	0.5
Bromate	0.01	0.010	0.010
Cadmium	0.005	0.005	0.003
Calcium	200	-	-
Chloramines	3.0	-	3
Chloride	less than 251	-	no limit listed
Chlorite	-	1.0	-
Chromium	0.050	0.01	0.05
Cobalt	no limit listed	-	-
Total Coliforms (including fecal coliform & E. coli)	0/100 mL	5.0%	-
Copper	1.0	1.3	2
*Cryptosporidium*	no limit listed	0	-
Colour	less than 16 TCU^	-	-
Cyanide	0.2	0.2	0.07
Cyanobacteria (total microystins)	0.0015	-	0.001
Fluoride	1.5	4.0	1.5
*Giardia lamblia*	no limit listed	0	-
Gold	no limit listed	-	-
Hardness (as CaCo3)	75 - 150 mg/L	-	no limit listed
Heterotrophic plate count	no limit listed	500 bacterial colonies/ml	-
Iron	0.300	0.3	no limit listed
Lanthanum	no limit listed	-	-
Lead	0.010	0	0.001
*Legionella*	no limit listed	0	-
Magnesium	50.0	-	-
Manganese	0.050	0.03	0.4
Mercury	0.001	0.002	0.001
Molybdenum	0.25	-	0.07
Nickel	no limit listed	-	0.020
Nitrate	45	10	-
Nitrite	-	1	-
Odour	inoffensive	-	-
pH	6.5 - 8.5	6.5 - 8.5	no limit listed
Phosphorus	0.010	-	-
Potassium	no limit listed	-	-
Scandium	no limit listed	-	-
Selenium	0.01	0.05	0.01
Silicon	no limit listed	-	-
Silver	0.050	0.10	no limit listed
Sodium	200	no limit listed	no limit listed
Strontium	no limit listed	-	-
Sulphate	500	-	500
Sulphide	-	-	-
Thallium	-	0.002	-
Titanium	no limit listed	-	-
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)	less than 500	-	no limit listed
Trichloroethylene (TCE)	0.005	-	-
Trihalomethanes (total)^^	0.1	0.1	1
Tungsten	no limit listed	-	-
Turbidity	0.3/1.0/0.1 NTU^^^	5 NTU	-
Uranium	0.02	-	0.009
Vanadium	no limit listed	no limit listed	-
Viruses (entric)	no limit listed	0	-
Zinc	5.00	5	no limit listed

This table represents only a selection of contaminants that are posted in the guidelines. A full list is available via the websites below.

* As per Canadian or BC Health Act Safe Drinking Water Regulation BC Reg 230/92, & Sch 120, 2001. Task force of the Canadian Council or Resource and Environment Ministers Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, 1996. See their website for more information.
** As per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Drinking Water Standards. See their website for more information.
*** As per the WHO (1998) Guidelines for drinking water quality, 2nd edition. Geneva, World Health Organization. See their website for more information.
^ TCU = true colour unit
^^ Individual limits for some of the individual trihalomethanes & haloacetic acids:

Trihalomethanes: bromodichloromethane (zero); bromoform (zero); dibromochloromethane (0.06 mg/L). Chloroform is regulated with this group but has no MCLG.
Haloacetic acids: dichloroacetic acid (zero); trichloroacetic acid (0.3 mg/L). Monochloroacetic acid, bromoacetic acid, and dibromoacetic acid are regulated with this group but have no limits.

^^^ NTU = nephelometric turbidity unit. Based on conventional treatment/slow sand or diatomaceous earth filtration/membrane filtration.

Selection of Maximum Limits Permissible in Drinking Water of Pesticides

The following table is a brief selection of some pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides that may be present in drinking water. A dash (-) indicates that there is no information available regarding possible limits.

Units are in milligrams per liter (mg/L) unless otherwise noted. Milligrams per liter are equivalent to parts per million.

Contaminant	*Canadian Limits (mg/L)**	US Limits (mg/L)**	WHO Limits * (mg/L)**
aldicarb + metabolites	0.009	-	-
aldrin + dieldrin	0.0007	-	0.0003
atrazine + metabolites	0.005	0.005	-
azinphos-methyl	0.02	-	-
bendiocarb	0.04	-	-
bromixynil	0.005	-	-
carbaryl	0.09	-	-
carbofuran	0.09	0.04	0.007
chlorpyrifos	0.09	-	0.030
cyanazine	0.01	-	-
diazinon	0.02	-	-
dicamba	0.12	-	-
diclofop-methyl	0.009	-	-
dimethoate	0.02	-	0.006
dinoseb	0.01	0.007	-
diquat	0.07	0.02	0.006
diuron	0.15	-	-
glyphosate	0.28	0.7	0.005
malathion	0.19	-	0.0009
methoxychlor	0.9	0.4	0.020
metolachlor	0.05	-	-
metribuzin	0.08	-	-
paraquat (as dichloride)	0.01	-	-
parathion	0.05	-	0.010
phorate	0.002	-	-
picloram	0.19	0.5	-
simazine	0.01	0.004	-
terbufos	0.001	-	-
trifluralin	0.045	-	-

This table represents only a selection of contaminants that are posted in the guidelines. A full list is available via the websites below.

** As per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Drinking Water Standards. See their website for more information.

*** As per the WHO (1998) Guidelines for drinking water quality, 2nd edition. Geneva, World Health Organization. See their website for more information.

Water Testing & Sampling

(from the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, Sixth Edition)

The frequency of sampling water depends on the quality of the source water, the number of water sources, the past frequency of unsatisfactory samples, the adequacy of treatment and the capacity of the treatment plant, the size and complexity of the distribution system, the practice of disinfection and the size of the population serviced. The following is offered as a guide:

Population Served	Number of Samples per Month
up to 5000	4
5000 to 90000	1 per 1000 population
more than 90000	90 + (1 per 10000 population)


Back To Top	Shipping & Return Policy	Click here to order on-line

Victoria (Head Office):
524 William St.
Victoria, BC
V9A 3Y9
T: 250-412-1110
F: 250-383-6990

Vancouver:
T: 604-630-1114
F: 604-629-0879

Courtenay:
#212-2459 Cousins Ave.
Courtenay, BC
V9N 3N6
T: 250-339-6914
F: 250-331-0889

All prices are in Canadian dollars, are subject to change and may be subject to taxes. Freight and/or brokerage fees may be added. Return policy - All equipment must be in original packaging. 20% restocking fee applies. No returns on used filters/membranes/bulbs. Return shipping is the responsibility of the purchaser.