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Thunder Bay Drinking Water Quality
By OpenStats · Built from official Canadian sources
Direct municipal dataC
Water quality grade
Fair
Graded against Health Canada drinking water guidelines
Lead within guidelinepH in range
Hardness vs provincial average42 mg/L · prov. avg 182 mg/L
Lead vs provincial average0.5 μg/L · prov. avg 0.4 μg/L
Hardness
42 mg/L
Lead
0.5 μg/L
≤ 5 μg/L
pH
7.5
6.5–8.5 range
Hardness
42 mg/L
Soft
Lead
0.5 μg/L
Max: 5 μg/L
pH
7.5
6.5–8.5
Chlorine
1 mg/L
Max: 4 mg/L
From source to sink
Where Thunder Bay water comes from
Lakes, rivers, wells, and treatment plants behind the kitchen tap, in plain language. Chemistry grades above are a separate lab snapshot; this section is the route the water travels.
Open the full tap storyOn the map
Where Thunder Bay water lives
Source waters and treatment plants pinned from published utility names. Open a pin below for the full OpenStreetMap view.
- CityThunder Bay
Municipal service area
- Source waterLake Superior
Source water
- Treatment plantBare Point Water Treatment Plant
Approximate pin near Thunder Bay (exact plant coordinates pending)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins are approximate for orientation, not legal survey points.
Where it starts
Surface water
Research confidence: high
Named source waters
- Lake Superior
Treatment plants
Bare Point Water Treatment Plant
City-owned plant on Lakeshore Drive / Bare Point. ZeeWeed membrane ultrafiltration and sodium hypochlorite disinfection. Operational capacity 113.5 million litres per day. Main intake roughly 730 m offshore at about 10 m depth; gravity feed into the plant.
How it reaches your street
Single-source system delivering through eight pressure zones, seven pump stations, four reservoirs, and one standpipe across the city. Bare Point has been the sole municipal residential supply since major 2007 upgrades.
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Reading this page
Thunder Bay's most recent drinking water sample (2026-07-22) reports hardness of 42 mg/L, classified as soft, and pH 7.5, drawn from a groundwater water source and treated at Thunder Bay Water Treatment Plant. Lead measured 0.5 μg/L and fluoride 0.6 mg/L.
Free chlorine measured 1 mg/L in this sample. No E. coli was detected in this sample.
Thunder Bay's hardness of 42 mg/L is below the Ontario average of 182 mg/L across 51 tracked municipalities, with a provincial average pH of 7.5.
These readings summarize a single compliance snapshot, not a certification of the water reaching your tap. Test your own water periodically, especially on a private well, and consider a softener if hardness is classified hard or very hard.
How to use this page: read the headline metrics first, then where the water comes from (map and tap story), then the parameter table and source footer.
Health parameters meet Health Canada limits; turbidity above the 1 NTU typical target.
One or more parameters exceed a Health Canada drinking water guideline or turbidity target.
Figure 1 · From source to sink
How drinking water reaches your tap
Compared to provincial average
Ontario · 51 cities in sample
Hardness (city vs Ontario avg)42 mg/L
pH (city vs Ontario avg)7.5
Lead (city vs Ontario avg)0.5 μg/L
Fluoride (city vs Ontario avg)0.6 mg/L
Provincial average: hardness 182 mg/L · pH 7.5 · lead 0.4 μg/L · fluoride 0.6 mg/L
Full parameters
| Parameter | Reading | Health Canada guideline | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 42 mg/L | No health limit (aesthetic) | Compliant |
| pH | 7.5 | 6.5–8.5 | Compliant |
| Lead | 0.5 μg/L | ≤ 5 μg/L | Compliant |
| Fluoride | 0.6 mg/L | ≤ 1.5 mg/L | Compliant |
| Chlorine (free) | 1 mg/L | ≤ 4 mg/L | Compliant |
| Turbidity | 3.8 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 →Drinking water filters and test kits
Pitcher and under-sink filters, plus hardness strips and TDS meters for tap checks.
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- Shop on Amazon.caTDS meterQuick dissolved-solids readout
- Shop on Amazon.caWater hardness test stripsQuick tap reading
Source · City of Thunder Bay Bare Point WTP corrosion control plan. Last updated 2026-07-22. Refreshed on the site's automated schedule.