Overview of city water:

The most common source of household water in the developed world is delivered to your home or business through the municipality in which you live. Most of us never give a second thought to the quality of the water. Above and beyond the objectionable tastes and odours often found in city water, we trust that it is safe for our families to drink. However, incidents occur that should lead us to perhaps consider otherwise, such as the May, 2000 outbreak of E. Coli in Walkerton, ON in which 7000 people became ill and seven people died.

City water supplies around the world employ various means of treating their water for residents. Many communities use absolutely no treatment - they simply pass it on straight from its source to the customer. Most communities have some treatment in place that may involve mechanical filtration, sand filtration, ozone, UV, or chemical addition. The most common method is the addition of chemicals such as chlorine, chloramine and ammonia.

Limits on contaminants in drinking water have been set by Health Canada, but are not legally enforceable. Canadian municipal water systems are only required to monitor and act on ONE contaminant - bacteria. The United States has more stringent rules, and every municipal water supply is required to test for a number of contaminants and provide the results free of charge to the public. The current recommended limits for contaminants in our drinking water are constantly being revised as new research shows what levels are to be considered safe.