By OpenStats · Built from official Canadian sources
Regional estimateWater quality grade
Good
Graded against Health Canada drinking water guidelines
Quebec City hardness is 250 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 Quebec City’s 250 mg/L hardness — metered whole-house softener sized for very hard Canadian tap water
Quebec City: under-sink carbon for drinking water (chlorine 0.7 mg/L) — does not remove hardness minerals
Optional shower carbon for Quebec City if chlorine taste bothers you
Verify 250 mg/L hardness at your tap before buying salt and sizing a softener
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Municipal reports cover the plant. A Tap Score kit tests the water at a Quebec City tap for a broader contaminant panel.
Lab kit partner link. We may earn a commission when tracking is active.
Quebec City's drinking water earns Grade B (Good). Hardness is 250 mg/L (very hard), and pH is 7.3 against Health Canada's 6.5–8.5 guideline.
Lead at 0.2 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 Quebec City 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
UTE de Québec
Serves centre / Val-Bélair network; source is rivière and lac Saint-Charles.
UTE de Sainte-Foy
West network (Sainte-Foy, Cap-Rouge, Saint-Augustin); St. Lawrence River intake.
UTE de Beauport
Beauport network; Rivière Montmorency intake.
UTE de Charlesbourg
Charlesbourg network; Rivière Montmorency, lac des Roches, source du Bon Pasteur, and rivière des Sept Ponts; includes under-river intake works on Montmorency.
Four treatment plants and about 2,800 km of potable distribution mains feed sector networks that can support each other when needed. City also operates 23 drinking-water reservoirs.
Health parameters meet Health Canada limits; turbidity above the 1 NTU typical target and very hard water.
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 | 250 mg/L | No health limit (aesthetic) | Compliant |
| pH | 7.3 | 6.5–8.5 | Compliant |
| Lead | 0.2 μg/L | ≤ 5 μg/L | Compliant |
| Fluoride | 0.7 mg/L | ≤ 1.5 mg/L | Compliant |
| Chlorine (free) | 0.7 mg/L | ≤ 4 mg/L | Compliant |
| Turbidity | 1.1 NTU | ≤ 1 NTU (typical target) | Exceeds guideline |
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Quebec City hardness is 250 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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