Drinking Water Quality and Supply

North Vancouver tap water: Grade C, hardness 271 mg/L

By OpenStats · Built from official Canadian sources

Regional estimate
C

Water quality grade

Fair

Graded against Health Canada drinking water guidelines

Lead within guidelinepH in range
Hardness vs provincial average271 mg/L · prov. avg 142 mg/L
Lead vs provincial average0.7 μg/L · prov. avg 0.4 μg/L
Hardness
271 mg/L
Lead
0.7 μg/L
≤ 5 μg/L
pH
7.9
6.5–8.5 range
Hardness
271 mg/L
Very hard
Lead
0.7 μg/L
Max: 5 μg/L
pH
7.9
6.5–8.5
Chlorine
1.2 mg/L
Max: 4 mg/L
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OpenStats picks for North Vancouver — very hard water (271 mg/L)

North Vancouver 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.

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Reading this page

North Vancouver'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

Supply and treatment

How North Vancouver 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.

Source type

Mixed surface and groundwater

Research confidence: medium

Source waters

  • mixed

Treatment plants

  • North Vancouver Water Treatment Plant

    From municipal open data or regional estimate (verify locally).

Cited sources

Outbound municipal or utility citations pending. See methodology for how supply research is gathered.

Supply notes summarize published utility materials. They are not a substitute for the issuing authority's current notices or for a licensed tap test.

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

Compared to provincial average

British Columbia · 58 cities in sample

Hardness (city vs British Columbia avg)271 mg/L
pH (city vs British Columbia avg)7.9
Lead (city vs British Columbia avg)0.7 μg/L
Fluoride (city vs British Columbia avg)0.7 mg/L

Provincial average: hardness 142 mg/L · pH 7.6 · lead 0.4 μg/L · fluoride 0.6 mg/L

Full parameters

ParameterReadingHealth Canada guidelineStatus
Hardness271 mg/LNo health limit (aesthetic)Compliant
pH7.96.5–8.5Compliant
Lead0.7 μg/L≤ 5 μg/LCompliant
Fluoride0.7 mg/L≤ 1.5 mg/LCompliant
Chlorine (free)1.2 mg/L≤ 4 mg/LCompliant
Turbidity3.2 NTU≤ 1 NTU (typical target)Exceeds guideline
Alberta water licences

WaterRegister.ca

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

OpenStats picks for North Vancouver — very hard water (271 mg/L)

North Vancouver 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.

· Compare options

  • Aquasure Harmony 40,000 grain softener
    OpenStats pick for North Vancouver’s 271 mg/L hardness — metered whole-house softener sized for very hard Canadian tap water
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  • Waterdrop 15UB under-sink system + faucet
    North Vancouver: under-sink carbon for drinking water (chlorine 1.2 mg/L) — does not remove hardness minerals
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  • SR SUN RISE 20-stage shower filter
    North Vancouver’s 1.2 mg/L chlorine — bestselling shower filter on Amazon.ca
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  • VARIFY hardness test strips
    Verify 271 mg/L hardness at your tap before buying salt and sizing a softener
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  • Fleck 5600 SXT softener (alternate)
    Alternate Fleck 5600 SXT listing if Aquasure is out of stock
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Source · ECCC / municipal open data (seed). Last updated 2026-09-01. Refreshed on the site's automated schedule.