By OpenStats · Built from official Canadian sources
Direct municipal dataWater quality grade
Good
Graded against Health Canada drinking water guidelines
Montreal’s 120 mg/L hardness scales kettles, but most households fix taste and lead at the tap first — not with a brine tank. OpenStats leads with Brita Elite and NSF 53 under-sink carbon; strips confirm whether you truly need a whole-house softener.
OpenStats pick for Montreal at 120 mg/L — everyday chlorine taste
Skip the pitcher wait in Montreal
Confirm 120 mg/L before a softener
NSF 53 lead option in Montreal
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Municipal reports cover the plant. A Tap Score kit tests the water at a Montreal tap for a broader contaminant panel.
Lab kit partner link. We may earn a commission when tracking is active.
Under-sink and RO systems from Waterdrop Canada — a direct brand alternative to marketplace filters.
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Montreal water hardness is 120 mg/L, from the city's published water quality reporting.
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 Montreal 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
Atwater (Sud-Ouest)
Major island plant drawing St. Lawrence / aqueduct system water; works in relay with Charles-J.-Des Baillets.
Charles-J.-Des Baillets (LaSalle)
Largest Montréal production plant; St. Lawrence intake; ozonation and UV among treatment steps.
Dorval
West-island plant; historically fluoridated with Pointe-Claire (city has announced end of fluoridation at these plants).
Lachine
Smaller island plant on Lac Saint-Louis / St. Lawrence corridor.
Pierrefonds
Northwest plant drawing from Rivière des Prairies.
Pointe-Claire
West-island plant; historically fluoridated with Dorval.
Service de l'eau produces and distributes drinking water island-wide through roughly 5,300 km of watermains. Six plants feed a common / interconnected distribution system serving Montréal boroughs and some neighbouring island municipalities via transmission mains and reservoirs (including Mont-Royal area storage).
Health parameters meet Health Canada limits; turbidity above the 1 NTU typical target.
Health parameters meet Health Canada limits; turbidity exceeds the typical 1 NTU aesthetic target.
Figure 1 · Supply chain
From watershed to tap
Quebec · 34 cities in sample
Provincial average: hardness 183 mg/L · pH 7.5 · lead 0.3 μg/L · fluoride 0.6 mg/L
| Parameter | Reading | Health Canada guideline | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 120 mg/L | No health limit (aesthetic) | Compliant |
| pH | 7 | 6.5–8.5 | Compliant |
| Lead | 0.1 μg/L | ≤ 5 μg/L | Compliant |
| Fluoride | 0.7 mg/L | ≤ 1.5 mg/L | Compliant |
| Chlorine (free) | 0.6 mg/L | ≤ 4 mg/L | Compliant |
| Turbidity | 1.8 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
Montreal’s 120 mg/L hardness scales kettles, but most households fix taste and lead at the tap first — not with a brine tank. OpenStats leads with Brita Elite and NSF 53 under-sink carbon; strips confirm whether you truly need a whole-house softener.
As an Amazon Associate, OpenStats earns from qualifying purchases.
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