By OpenStats · Built from official Canadian sources
Regional estimateWater quality grade
Fair
Graded against Health Canada drinking water guidelines
Hawkesbury hardness is 271 mg/L — pitcher filters improve taste but will not soften water. Size a metered whole-house softener for scale, and add under-sink carbon for drinking chlorine.
OpenStats pick for Hawkesbury’s 271 mg/L hardness — metered whole-house softener sized for very hard Canadian tap water
Hawkesbury: under-sink carbon for drinking water (chlorine 1.2 mg/L) — does not remove hardness minerals
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Municipal reports cover the plant. A Tap Score kit tests the water at a Hawkesbury tap for a broader contaminant panel.
Lab kit partner link. We may earn a commission when tracking is active.
Hawkesbury's drinking water earns Grade C (Fair). Hardness is 271 mg/L (very hard), and pH is 7.9 against Health Canada's 6.5–8.5 guideline.
Lead at 0.7 μg/L is below the 5 μg/L maximum, and fluoride is 0.7 mg/L against a guideline of ≤ 1.5 mg/L.
How to use this page: read the headline metric and provincial comparison first, then supply and treatment notes, then the source footer for the underlying dataset.
Watershed to tap
How Hawkesbury draws, treats, and distributes drinking water, from municipal and utility publications. Chemistry grades above come from separate parameter records; this section does not invent plant lab figures.
Surface water
Research confidence: high
Hawkesbury Water Treatment Plant (670 Main Street West)
Conventional: coagulation/flocculation, Ultrapulsator and microsand ballasted clarifiers, high-rate sand/anthracite filters, clearwell, high-lift. Intake ~40 m offshore, ~4.5 m depth.
Also pipelines to Vankleek Hill, L'Orignal, and Laurentian Park (Champlain). Standpipe ~5,400–5,450 m³; ~55 km watermains in Hawkesbury.
Health parameters meet Health Canada limits; turbidity above the 1 NTU typical target and very hard water.
One or more parameters exceed a Health Canada drinking water guideline or turbidity target.
Figure 1 · Supply chain
From watershed to tap
Ontario · 123 cities in sample
Provincial average: hardness 178 mg/L · pH 7.5 · lead 0.4 μg/L · fluoride 0.6 mg/L
| Parameter | Reading | Health Canada guideline | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 271 mg/L | No health limit (aesthetic) | Compliant |
| pH | 7.9 | 6.5–8.5 | Compliant |
| Lead | 0.7 μg/L | ≤ 5 μg/L | Compliant |
| Fluoride | 0.7 mg/L | ≤ 1.5 mg/L | Compliant |
| Chlorine (free) | 1.2 mg/L | ≤ 4 mg/L | Compliant |
| Turbidity | 3.2 NTU | ≤ 1 NTU (typical target) | Exceeds guideline |
On a private well or holding an Alberta water allocation licence? Water Register maps EPA licence records, transfer comparables, and watershed context across the province.
Explore WaterRegister.ca →OpenStats pick
Hawkesbury hardness is 271 mg/L — pitcher filters improve taste but will not soften water. Size a metered whole-house softener for scale, and add under-sink carbon for drinking chlorine.
As an Amazon Associate, OpenStats earns from qualifying purchases.
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