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November 21, 2024

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Water Advisory Information

Updated September 2019

What to do:

During a Water advisory

Frequently Asked Questions

After a Water Advisory is lifted

Water Today Map Info

Health Canada Info

Provincial Advisory Information
WATER TODAY Advisory Maps
WATERTODAY updates and posts Canadian water advisories throughout the day, every day. Establishing drinking water quality criteria and publishing water advisories is a provincial responsibility in Canada.

WATERTODAY national maps offer site visitors an overview of water issues across Canada, including: Boil Water Advisories (BWA - yellow dots) Do Not Consume (DNC - red dots), Water Shortage (WS - purple dots) and cyanobacteria contamination or Blue-Green Algae (cyan dots) advisories. Our provincial maps provide additional details such as advisory locations and causes.

In order to post as many active DWAs (Drinking Water Advisories) as possible, we utilize a number of sources including governmental lists (Provincial and Municipal), as well as Federal lists of First Nation advisories, in addition to subscribing to the media lists of municipalities and health units across the country and to a number of media outlets. In addition, we take a proactive approach and seek out new DWAs through online searches (Google, etc).

Despite our efforts to make our list of advisories as comprehensive as possible, it may happen that one or more issued DWAs will be missed, or that a previously issued DWA will have been rescinded yet still appear on our map as active. Should you be aware of either please inform us via email.

For the sake of map clarity, when there are more than one advisory in a community, WATER TODAY groups them under one name, i.e. TownName (5). This avoids overcrowding the maps with pinpoints, making them difficult to read. This is especially the case in British Columbia, where one community may have many individual water systems.

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Boil Water Advisory General Information

Use tap water for:

Laundry

Showers

Shaving

Flushing toilets

Use boil water for:

Drinking

Brushing teeth

Sponge bathing babies

Making ice

Washing Vegetables and fruits

Preparing food and baby formula

Coffee making

Pet water bowls

Do not use:

Any kind of household filter

Ice makers, soda dispensers or any appliance
with a line to the water supply

Water toys such as wading pools

Frequently asked questions

How do I boil my water during an advisory?

Fill a pot with water.
Heat the water until bubbles come from the bottom of the pot to the top.
Once the water reaches a rolling boil, let it boil for 1 minute.
Turn off the heat source and let the water cool.
Pour water into a clean container with a cover for storage.

Why do I have to boil my water?

Your water may be contaminated by bacteria. This may be due to equipment failure, leaking/broken pipes in the system, or insufficient disinfectant in the water supply. The Boil Water Advisory gives you information so you can take action to protect your health.

I cannot boil my water. How do I disinfect my water to make it safe to drink?

NOTE: Water contaminated with fuel or a toxic chemical will not be made safe by boiling or disinfection. Use another source of water if you know or suspect that water might be contaminated with fuel or a toxic chemical.

If tap water is clear:

Use unscented bleach (bleach that does not have an added scent).
Add 1/8 teaspoon (8 drops or about 0.75 milliliters) of unscented household liquid bleach to 1 gallon (16 cups) of water.
Mix well and wait 30 minutes or more before drinking.
Store disinfected water in a clean contain with a cover.

If tap water is cloudy:

Filter through a clean cloth

Use unscented bleach (bleach that does not have an added scent).

Add 1/4 teaspoon (16 drops or 1.5 milliliters) of unscented household liquid bleach to 1 gallon (16 cups) of water.

Mix well and wait 30 minutes or more before drinking.

Store disinfected water in a clean container with a cover.

Remember that containers may need to be sanitized before using them to store safe water.
To sanitize containers:

Use unscented bleach (bleach that does not have an added scent).

Make a sanitizing solution by mixing 1 teaspoon (5 milliliters) of unscented household liquid bleach in 1 quart (32 ounces, 4 cups, or about 1 liter) of water.

Pour this sanitizing solution into a clean storage container and shake well, making sure that the solution coats the entire inside of the container.

Let the clean storage container sit at least 30 seconds, and then pour the solution out of the container.

Let the empty container air dry OR rinse it with clean water that has already been made safe, if available. Never mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners. Open windows and doors to get fresh air when you use bleach.

Should I use bottled water?
You may choose to use bottled water if it is available.

I don’t like the taste of boiled water. What can I do?
To improve the taste of boiled water you can:

Pour cooled boiled water back and forth from one clean glass or container into another to add air to the water, or

Let the water stand for a few hours, or

Add a pinch of salt to each quart of boiled water.

What should I do after the boil water advisory is lifted?
Flush out the building’s water pipes to ensure they contain safe water before using them. To do this, turn on one hot water tap and let it run until the water is cold. This will drain the hot water heater and refill it with safe water.
Then, turn on all your cold water taps, faucets, fountains, shower heads and outside hose spigots and let them run for five minutes.
Clean faucet screens and aerators on all taps.
Flush, clean and sanitize water lines on equipment such as beverage machines, coffee machines and ice machines with clean water. Follow manufacturers’ instructions.
Replace, don’t just clean water filter cartridges on taps and in water containers.
Flush, clean and sanitize any other water-using fixture or equipment using manufacturers’ instructions.
Clean and sanitize all food preparation, dispensing and preparation equipment (ex: ice machines, soda fountains, ice cream dispensers) following manufacturers’ instructions. This includes any in-line, pre-treatment devices. If you need help or information, contact the company that installed the equipment.
Clean and sanitize sprayers or misters using manufacturers’ instructions.
Flush and sanitize water treatment devices using manufacturers’ instructions. Run water softeners through a regeneration cycle. Replace any water filter cartridges in treatment devices.

Sources: CDC, Health Canada, City of Ottawa, Manitoba Water Stewardship

Health Canada Information

What are the reasons for issuing boil water advisories or boil water orders?
A boil water advisory may be issued as a result of any of:
1) on evidence of conditions such as:

- unacceptable levels of disease-causing bacteria, viruses or parasites in the water system anywhere from the source to the tap,
- unacceptable levels in the cloudiness (turbidity) in the water at its originating source

These conditions can occur for many reasons including:
inadequate filtration and /or disinfection during treatment, re-contamination during distribution,

2) precautionary measure when there is concern that contamination may occur, for example local emergency repairs in the distribution system

A boil water order is usually issued where evidence indicates that the drinking water is or may be responsible for an outbreak of illness.

Is it necessary to boil all water in the home during an advisory or order?

During boil water advisories or boil water orders, you should boil all water used for drinking, preparing food , beverages, ice cubes, washing fruits and vegetables, or brushing teeth. Severely immunocompromised individuals should always boil their tap water for the purposes noted above. Infant formulas should be prepared using boiled tapwater, at all times. In the event that boiling is not practical, your local public health authority or other responsible authority may direct you to disinfect the water using household bleach, or to use an alternative supply known to be safe.

It is not necessary to boil tap water used for other household purposes, such as showering, laundry, bathing, or washing dishes. Adults, teens, and older children can wash, bathe, or shower; however, they should avoid swallowing the water. Toddlers and infants should be sponge bathed.

How should tap water be boiled properly?

Water should be placed in a heat-resistant container or in an electric kettle without an automatic shut-off and brought to a rolling boil for 1 minute to kill all disease-causing organisms. Water can also be boiled in a microwave oven using a microwave-safe container, but it is advisable to include a glass rod or wooden or plastic stir stick in the container to prevent the formation of superheated water (water heated above its boiling point, without the formation of steam). The water should then be cooled and poured into a clean container or refrigerated until you are ready to use it. At elevations over 2,000 metres water boils at a slightly lower temperature and should therefore be boiled for at least two minutes to kill all disease-causing organisms.

I have a water treatment device, do I still need to boil my drinking water?

If the device is designed to improve the taste and odour or chemical quality of the water, such as activated carbon filters, it is still necessary to boil the water. Devices designed to disinfect the water, such as a UV light units, may be used as an alternative to boiling. If the water is cloudy, filtration may be required before disinfection. Check with the manufacturer if you are not certain.

Are extra precautions necessary during a waterborne outbreak?

In the event of a waterborne disease outbreak, public health or other responsible authorities may advise the public to wash their hands in a dilute solution of unscented household bleach and water (1 millilitre or 20 drops of unscented bleach per litre of water). This is particularly important before preparing or eating meals and after using the toilet, changing diapers, or handling animals. If dishes are washed by hand, they should be washed and rinsed in hot tap water, then soaked in a dilute solution of household bleach (20 millilitres of bleach in 10 litres of water) for 1 minute, and air dried. Dishwashers with a hot water cycle will disinfect dishes. These precautions should reduce the possible spread of illness and minimize the need to boil tap water.

When is a boil water advisory or order lifted?

Boil water advisories or boil water orders are usually lifted by the responsible authority or water utility when the water is considered safe and no longer poses a threat to public health.

What should I do when the boil water advisory or order has been lifted?

The responsible authority or water utility will provide instructions on flushing water pipes within the home. It is important to carefully follow the instructions provided. Water heaters may need to be disinfected and flushed to remove any contaminated water. Some types of water treatment devices may need to be disinfected or replaced before being used. Check with the manufacturer for details.

Boil Water Advisories in Canadian Provinces

On any given day, there are roughly 1,000 drinking water advisories in effect across Canada (the number has decreased by some 400 since WT started monitoring them), most of these are Boil Water Advisories (BWA); other alerts include Do Not Consume Advisories usually issued when an unknown contaminant has been detected in the water or when a toxic spill has occured. These are warnings from public health authorities that tap water is unsafe to drink and may cause illness or transmit disease. On average, half of the drinking water advisories are for cities and towns, the other half is for Small Drinking Water Systems found in such places as nursing homes, provincial parks, schools, restaurants and summer camps.

While we know the published number of drinking water advisories issued, compiling a comprehensive list is diffcult because there is no standard way of conveying warnings about drinking water safety, and the terminology and availability of information varies considerably between provinces, regions and even local health units.

Some provinces do not publish water advisories in Small Drinking Water Systems (Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick, Newfoundland), others do not report precautionary advisories caused by water main breaks or maintenance work (Québec). Some provincial governments do not publish boil-water registries at all (Ontario, Nunavut, PEI, Yukon). Efforts in these jurisdictions may be limited to the discretionary efforts of local water suppliers (such as physical postings in local locations or ads in community newspapers) without any requirement for online publication. In other words, there is no attempt to make information available beyond local community members, putting visitors at risk. The lack of national standardized reporting makes it difficult to track trends in water quality and provide a national portrait of water quality in Canada.

While transparency regarding water conditions in some provinces is poor, First Nations communities are in a worse situation, many of them living with the kind of sewage and water conditions seen in developing countries. Status updates on problem areas were not available until 2014, when Health Canada's website started publishing a more detailed list of advisories in First Nations and Inuit communities across Canada, with the exception of those in British Columbia, since Health Canada transferred its role in the design, management, and delivery of BC First Nations health programming as part of the British Columbia Tripartite Framework Agreement on First Nations Health Governance, established October 1st 2013.

Province by Province Overview

ALBERTA
On average there are only about 15 active drinking water advisories (DWA) in Alberta at any given time, the majority of which are boil water advisories (BWAs). The low number of water advisories is largely due to the fact that the province does not report on small water systems such as recreational and tourist accommodations, restaurants, schools, mobile parks, and small developments with less than 15 connections.

Although Alberta does not issue many boil water advisories, the province ranks as one of the highest in the number of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria bloom) advisories issued during the warmer months. One of the reasons for this is that Alberta's fertile soil is naturally rich in phosphorus, key to algae growth.

Drinking Water Advisories are issued by Alberta Health Services (AHS). AHS, Canada’s first province-wide, fully integrated health system, was established in 2008 by uniting 12 formerly separate health entities into the one, serving over 4 million citizens.

MANITOBA
Manitoba's Water Stewardship website posts drinking water advisory updates on a daily basis, however the information provided is incomplete in that advisory causes and locations are not provided. There are two lists, one for public water systems and the other for semi-public water systems. Public systems have 15 or more service connections while semi-public systems are those that are neither public nor private. There are 3 different categories of drinking water advisories: boil water advisories (BWA) issued in cases where drinking water may be compromised by bacteria or micro-organisms; drinking water avoidance advisories (DWAA) issued in cases where drinking water is compromised by contaminants that cannot be killed or removed by boiling; water quality advisory (WQA) issued in cases where drinking water may pose a low risk to health and water users can take actions to reduce their risk other than by boiling. There are on average, 90-100 active, short and long term DWAs.

QUÉBEC
The Provincial Regulation Respecting the Quality of Drinking Water has been in effect since June 2001 and it contains requirements for thousands of drinking water distribution system owners/operators, including municipalities, health units, waterworks, as well as smaller entities.

DWA publication is the responsibility of Environnement et Lutte Contre les Changements Climatiques. The departmental list is updated daily and includes both BWAs and DNCs (Do Not Consume). On average there are approximately 100-125 active DWAs listed by administrative region, of which there are 17. Advisory details include location, name of system and whether it is municipal or non-municipal, advisory type and issue date. Advisory causes are not listed. Many municipalities post their own active DWAs on their websites, however not all do. The governmental list does not include DWAs issued due to equipment breakage such as water main breaks. This inconsistency in DWA reporting makes it a challenge to find all active DWAs in the province.

ONTARIO
There is no online DWA registry, but rather, advisories are issued by municipalities and individual public or district health units (DHU) of which there are currently 34. The quality of information provided by these public health units varies from unit to unit in that most do not provide advisory causes, nor do they possess mailing lists in order to issue media releases regarding newly issued DWAs. Some DHUs work in conjunction with local municipalities, while others do not. It is due to these inconsistencies in reporting, that it is challenging to determine all active DWAs in the province at any given time.

In Ontario, the overall number of active DWAs is approximately 80-90 however this number increases during the warmer months due to the issuing of blue-green algae advisories.

SAKKATCHEWAN
Both the Water Security Agency (WSA) and Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment post DWAs, including both “PDWA” (Precautionary Drinking Water Advisory, the equivalent of BWA), and EBWO (Emergency Boil Water Order). DNC (Do Not Consume) Advisories are occasionally issued. Lists are updated daily and all relevent advisory details are provided. Saskatchewan has a large number of active DWAs (on average, between 175-200) as both large and small drinking water systems are included. Also of note is that many PDWAs are issued following watermain breaks or equipment malfunction, which is not the case in some other provinces that do not take these precautionary measures for similar occurrences.

BRITISH COLUMBIA
In British Columbia, a BWN (Boil Water Notice) is equivalent to a BWA. WQAs (Water Quality Advisory) are also issued. A BWN is issued in situations where the public health threat is significant and the nature of the threat can be effectively addressed by boiling the water. A WQA is issued when the public health threat is modest, and actions can be taken to reduce the risks by ways other than those requiring a boil water notice. WQAs may be issued when there is a risk that is limited to the elderly, young, and to those with compromised immune systems. DNCs (Do Not Consume) are issued when the threat can not be addressed effectively by boiling the water. The province is divided into 5 regional health authorities: Interior Health, Northern Health, Vancouver Island Health, Fraser Health, and Coast Garibaldi. Information provided by 4 of the 5 entities (excluding Interior Health) is relatively consistent in that all relevant advisory details are provided. Interior Health does not provide locations. The overall number of DWAs in BC is, on average, between 150-175.

In BC, First Nations Health Authority is responsible for issuing and rescinding DWAs in First Nation communities. They post both short and long term DWAs on their website. Their long term DWAs are also posted on the Federal list which falls under the responsibility of Indigenous Services Canada.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Prince Edward Island has more than 250 watersheds which provide all the province's drinking water as well as water for agricultural and commercial needs. One hundred percent of PEI's drinking water comes from the ground. There are an estimated 20,000 residential wells in the province, a small number of which (approximately 310) are high capacity wells (those extracting a minimum 4 L/second).

Well owners must test their water at least once/annually and perform a chemical analysis of their well water when a new well is first drilled, and then again every 3-5 years. DWAs are rarely issued.

The greatest risk to PEI's water is deep water irrigation, a practice the island's potato growers say is necessary to maintain PEI's $1 billion dollar potato industry but that many believe is depleting the island's groundwater reserves.

There is no online boil-water advisory registry.

The greatest risk to PEI's water is deep water irrigation, a practice the island's potato growers say is necessary to maintain PEI's $1 billion dollar potato industry but that many believe is depleting the island's groundwater reserves.

There is no online boil-water advisory registry.

NEW BRUNSWICK
There are relatively few DWAs in New Brunswick, mainly due to the fact that a large number of the provincial population relies on private wells for their drinking water (estimated at approximately 100,000 wells). The government's website publishes lists of both active and past DWAs. Blue-green algae advisories are also posted, and in NB, once an algae advisory has been posted, it remains viewable on the list for years. The Health Department does this so that web site visitors will be informed that at one time, potentially toxic blooms had occurred at a particular location. This is deemed important as blooms can, and often do recur in the same location. In New Brunswick, DWAs are issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, and most are categorized as “Boil Orders”, rather than as “Boil Water Advisories”. Boil Orders are issued by medical officers of health, authorizing them to order certain actions be taken to address potential health risks.

NOVA SCOTIA
The Nova Scotia Environment Department publishes its list of active/rescinded BWAs once weekly, whereas most other provinces that do publish lists, do so daily. As a result, many of the published BWAs in Nova Scotia are both issued and rescinded in the same reporting period. Information provided is incomplete in that advisory causes are not included. Most published BWAs are for small drinking water systems such as restaurants and cafes, daycare centres, schools, etc. There are few municipal BWAs issued and of those that do occasionally occur, the cause tends to be related to equipment breakage or extended power outages in which the issued advisory is precautionary in nature. The overall number of active DWAs is, on average, between 20-30.

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
Newfoundland is a small province, but it has one of the highest number of DWAs in the country. This is mainly due to the fact that the province is largely made up of tiny communities with neither the population nor the resources to maintain water treatment facilities adequately. Advisories are posted, resolved and often reposted a few months later, sometimes more often.

Newfoundland is a small province, but it has one of the highest number of DWAs in the country, with an average of between 160-180 active advisories. This is mainly due to the fact that the province is largely made up of tiny communities with neither the population nor the resources to maintain water treatment facilities adequately. Advisories are posted, rescinded, and often reposted a few months later with some being reposted even more frequently.

The provincial government maintains a list of active DWAs for public water systems and a list of advisories lifted in the previous 30 days. There is also a list of advisories by location, which is helpful, and all relevant advisory details are provided including site location.

While 83 percent of Newfoundlanders are on public water supplies, there are about 600 Semi-public water supplies (400 year-round and 200 seasonal) for which there is no requirement for routine bacteriological monitoring or continuous disinfection.

NUNAVUT
Nunavut's Health Department is responsible for overseeing publication of DWAs. One of the main causes of advisories is turbidity due to glacier melt and ice break-up in the Arctic in late spring. Turbidity often occurs after the ice breaks up in June. Earlier this year (2019) the Department addressed the turbidity issue by standardizing turbidity testing across the territory. All communities can now test for turbidity and issue advisories if indicated. Plans to upgrade water treatment plants in several communities are now being considered due to the attention being paid to the turbidity problem since turbidity can be an indicator of treatment plant inefficiency.

YUKON
On April 1, 2003, Yukon became the first territory to take over land and resource management, water, forestry and mineral resources, as the final major step in the territory's devolution process.
In August 2007, the Yukon government approved a new regulation for large public drinking water systems and bulk water delivery. According to this regulation, the owner of a large public drinking system (any system that has 15 or more connections piped to a distribution system or five or more delivery sites on a trucked distribution system) is responsible for supplying and delivering drinking water that meets the health-related criteria set out in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality) to users. There are only 20 public drinking water systems in the territory, which serve the majority of the population (30,000 people), that meet this criteria and are therefore regulated. The total population of Yukon is 33,897 according to the 2011 census.

There are few reported DWAs in the Yukon territory. Over the last seven years, there have been a total of seven, with 4 of these affecting private wells at risk of being contaminated by flood waters. None have been issued so far in 2019.

FEDERAL
Both short-term DWAs (issued less than 1 year previously) and long-term DWAs (over 1 year) are published on the Indigenous Services Canada website. Both BWAs and DNCs are published as well as rescinded DWAs. Lists are maintained on a fairly regular basis. Advisory causes are not provided, nor are exact locations of the Tribe/Band being issued the advisory.

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