About Canada Water Quality

Canada Water Quality is the atlas for municipal drinking water: laboratory parameters (hardness, pH, lead, fluoride, chlorine) graded against Health Canada guidelines, plus supply profiles that name source waters, treatment plants, and distribution notes for every tracked city.

Quality and supply on one page

Each city page opens with a letter grade and the headline parameters, then a supply and treatment section drawn from utility and municipal publications. Direct-tier cities cite municipal or utility annual reports for hardness and related parameters. Regional-tier cities carry the best available regional estimate until a direct municipal report is ingested, and those pages stay labeled so readers can judge confidence. Active boil-water and related advisories appear when present.

Methodology notes

Hardness is an aesthetic and operational measure (mg/L as CaCO₃), not a health MAC. Lead, fluoride, chlorine, and pH are assessed against Health Canada guideline thresholds used in the grade. Supply type (surface, groundwater, or mixed) and plant names come from cited municipal or utility materials, not from invented lab numbers. Coverage counts and ingest rules are on the atlas methodology and data sources pages. Primer: Drinking Water Hardness in Canada.

Limitations

Figures are for informational and comparative use. For decisions with health, tax, or construction consequences, rely on the issuing municipality or agency, a licensed professional, or Health Canada guidance where applicable. Corrections: [email protected].

Topic-specific ingest rules live on this atlas methodology and data sources pages. Plain-language primers for all topics are collected under guides.