In this Issue
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Drinking Water Safety - Issues for the Nineties Who decides when drinking water is safe in Canada? Health and Welfare Canada negotiates with the provinces on the safety of drinking water. Together, the federal and provincial people publish the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. This document provides guidelines for allowable contamination levels. In contrast to regulations, guidelines have not the force of law. However, one prairie province, Alberta, has adopted all health based maximum acceptable concentration values as conditions for municipal water treatment plant licences under the Alberta Clean Water Act. That gives the force of law in Alberta. Several other countries, such as the U.S. and the European Community, have drinking water regulations, not guidelines. In a majority of cases a world wide consensus has been reached regarding acceptable levels of contaminants. However, the target levels for some groups of compounds are being debated. One group, trihalomethanes, is formed when water is disinfected with chlorine. In Canada, the acceptable level is considerably higher than in other countries. However, Canada and the provinces continue in their negotiations to have these levels reduced. Allowable concentration of both individual pesticides and total pesticide content in drinking water form another group. The acceptable residual levels set by the European Community are much lower than in Canada, the U.S. and the World Health Organization. The European Community is giving water treatment plants a clear message; pesticide contamination of drinking water no matter how small, is not acceptable. However, provincial and federal agencies here in Canada have not assumed a direct responsibility with respect to private water supplies. One of the goals of Prairie Water News has been to improve water supplies so they, as well as public water supplies, meet the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. |
