By OpenStats · Built from official Canadian sources
Regional estimateWater quality grade
Good
Graded against Health Canada drinking water guidelines
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Yellowknife's drinking water earns Grade B (Good). Hardness is 174 mg/L (hard), and pH is 7.7 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 0.5 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 Yellowknife 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
Yellowknife Water Treatment Plant (Pumphouse No. 1 complex)
Membrane filtration plant (commissioned 2015) with on-site sodium hypochlorite generation and fluoridation; raw water arrives from Pumphouse No. 2 at the Yellowknife River via submersible pipeline under Yellowknife Bay.
City-owned utility distributes treated water through about 62 km of watermains, plus trucked and seasonal aboveground lines. Also supplies neighbouring Yellowknives Dene communities of Ndilǫ and Dettah. Reservoirs / recirculation stations keep arctic distribution circulating and heated in winter.
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
Northwest Territories · 1 cities in sample
Provincial average: hardness 174 mg/L · pH 7.7 · lead 0.6 μg/L · fluoride 0.5 mg/L
| Parameter | Reading | Health Canada guideline | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 174 mg/L | No health limit (aesthetic) | Compliant |
| pH | 7.7 | 6.5–8.5 | Compliant |
| Lead | 0.6 μg/L | ≤ 5 μg/L | Compliant |
| Fluoride | 0.5 mg/L | ≤ 1.5 mg/L | Compliant |
| Chlorine (free) | 1.1 mg/L | ≤ 4 mg/L | Compliant |
| Turbidity | 1.5 NTU | ≤ 1 NTU (typical target) | Exceeds guideline |
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Yellowknife pairs 174 mg/L hardness with 1.1 mg/L chlorine — taste and scale show up together. Elite carbon for drinking, shower filter for chlorine, strips so you know when you need a softener.
As an Amazon Associate, OpenStats earns from qualifying purchases.
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