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OpenStats picks for Olds — very hard water (270 mg/L)
Olds hardness is 270 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.
Olds tap water: Grade C, hardness 270 mg/L
By OpenStats · Built from official Canadian sources
Regional estimateC
Water quality grade
Fair
Graded against Health Canada drinking water guidelines
Lead within guidelinepH in range
Hardness vs provincial average270 mg/L · prov. avg 178 mg/L
Lead vs provincial average0.6 μg/L · prov. avg 0.3 μg/L
Hardness
270 mg/L
Lead
0.6 μg/L
≤ 5 μg/L
pH
7.8
6.5–8.5 range
Hardness
270 mg/L
Very hard
Lead
0.6 μg/L
Max: 5 μg/L
pH
7.8
6.5–8.5
Chlorine
1.1 mg/L
Max: 4 mg/L
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Aquasure Harmony 40,000 grain softener
OpenStats pick for Olds’s 270 mg/L hardness — metered whole-house softener sized for very hard Canadian tap water
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Waterdrop 15UB under-sink system + faucet
Olds: under-sink carbon for drinking water (chlorine 1.1 mg/L) — does not remove hardness minerals
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SR SUN RISE 20-stage shower filter
Olds’s 1.1 mg/L chlorine — bestselling shower filter on Amazon.ca
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VARIFY hardness test strips
Verify 270 mg/L hardness at your tap before buying salt and sizing a softener
As an Amazon Associate, OpenStats earns from qualifying purchases.
Partner
Lab water test for Olds taps
Municipal reports cover the plant. A Tap Score kit tests the water at a Olds tap for a broader contaminant panel.
Lab kit partner link. We may earn a commission when tracking is active.
Reading this page
Olds's drinking water earns Grade C (Fair). Hardness is 270 mg/L (very hard), and pH is 7.8 against Health Canada's 6.5–8.5 guideline.
Lead at 0.6 μg/L is below the 5 μg/L maximum, and fluoride is 0.6 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 Olds 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
Groundwater
Research confidence: medium
Source waters
- groundwater
Treatment plants
Olds Water Treatment Plant
From municipal open data or regional estimate (verify locally).
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
Alberta · 51 cities in sample
Hardness (city vs Alberta avg)270 mg/L
pH (city vs Alberta avg)7.8
Lead (city vs Alberta avg)0.6 μg/L
Fluoride (city vs Alberta avg)0.6 mg/L
Provincial average: hardness 178 mg/L · pH 7.5 · lead 0.3 μg/L · fluoride 0.6 mg/L
Full parameters
| Parameter | Reading | Health Canada guideline | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 270 mg/L | No health limit (aesthetic) | Compliant |
| pH | 7.8 | 6.5–8.5 | Compliant |
| Lead | 0.6 μg/L | ≤ 5 μg/L | Compliant |
| Fluoride | 0.6 mg/L | ≤ 1.5 mg/L | Compliant |
| Chlorine (free) | 1.1 mg/L | ≤ 4 mg/L | Compliant |
| Turbidity | 3.1 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 Olds — very hard water (270 mg/L)
Olds hardness is 270 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- Shop on Amazon.caAquasure Harmony 40,000 grain softenerOpenStats pick for Olds’s 270 mg/L hardness — metered whole-house softener sized for very hard Canadian tap water
- Shop on Amazon.caWaterdrop 15UB under-sink system + faucetOlds: under-sink carbon for drinking water (chlorine 1.1 mg/L) — does not remove hardness minerals
- Shop on Amazon.caSR SUN RISE 20-stage shower filterOlds’s 1.1 mg/L chlorine — bestselling shower filter on Amazon.ca
- Shop on Amazon.caVARIFY hardness test stripsVerify 270 mg/L hardness at your tap before buying salt and sizing a softener
- Shop on Amazon.caFleck 5600 SXT softener (alternate)Alternate Fleck 5600 SXT listing if Aquasure is out of stock
Source · ECCC / municipal open data (seed). Last updated 2026-09-01. Refreshed on the site's automated schedule.