Drinking Water Tests Not Uniform in Canada
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Social
Many Canadian cities are falling short of testing drinking water for all possible harmful contaminants, and experts say the long-term consequences could be detrimental to people's health, a CBC News investigation has found
Many Canadian cities are falling short of testing drinking water for all possible harmful contaminants, and experts say the long-term consequences could be detrimental to people's health, a CBC News investigation has found.
CBC asked 18 cities in every province and territory to provide a list of the health-related contaminants they test in their water supplies. Only one — Ottawa — tests for all 75 substances found in Health Canada's published guidelines for Canadian drinking water.
Some cities, like Calgary, Edmonton and Halifax, test for all but one of the substances in the guidelines.Quebec City tests for 62, Regina 52, Winnipeg 49, St.John's 26and Iqaluit just tests for 20.
Experts say these voluntary national guidelines should be mandatory and enforceable, as they are in the U.S. and many other countries.
In Canada, it is left to each province to decide how many tests each of its municipalities should do — a system Health Canada said makes sense based on which contaminants are relevant in any particular region.
"They should be testing for everything, maybe not all the time, but at least on a periodic basis, rather than never testing for them at all," said Eva Pip, a University of Winnipeg professor specializing in water quality and toxicology.
"There is no such thing anymore as a pristine environment anywhere on this planet," said Pip.
Source: CBC
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