The healthiest water to drink

[Editor's note: We've had lots of feedback on this article by Dr. Joey Shulman. What's the healthiest water to drink? That's up to you to decide. For another side of the drinking-water story, the executive director of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association has this to say:]

The healthiest water to drink?
By T. Duncan Ellison, Executive Director, Canadian Water and Wastewater Association.

Dr. Shulman's opinion piece attempts to simplify a complex situation but is incomplete. Her statement that “the worst water to drink is tap water” has to be challenged.

Municipally water is regulated by provincial authorities based on the Guidelines on Canadian Drinking Water Quality, published by Health Canada and which are based on detailed health risk assessments of potential contaminants. The levels allowed are well below any predicted health effect based on a projected consumption of 6 L/person/day over a period of 70 years. The provinces have comprehensive regulatory programs with regular inspections of the treatment plants, mandatory monitoring and reporting of water quality, and requirements for trained and certified staff. Water quality results are available to any resident and the municipality will assist residents in checking their own tap water quality. Local public and environmental health authorities also monitor the situation. If there is a concern, they can and do order remedial actions. Municipal water services are public, municipally owned and not-for-profit. They are regulated and inspected.

The bottled water and the point-of-use filter industries, on the other hand, are private, for profit, and not generally regulated or inspected. Bottled water in Canada is subject to a minimal requirement of the Food and Drug Act, Section 12, which addresses only microbial risk. The presence or absence of chemical contaminants is left to individual producers; not all are members of the Bottled Water Association. They are not subject to the same level of external (governmental) inspection as municipal water. Vendors of filtration systems may be selling products that are certified by NSF International, but many systems are not certified, and in filtering tap water, may actually not be serving any health purpose. The maintenance of the devices (e.g., regular filter replacement) is entirely up to the owner. Poorly maintained devices can increase a health risk.

CWWA does not oppose the sale of bottled water nor the filtration devices. Properly regulated and inspected, each have their place to serve customers' needs -– but remember they do add to the cost of drinking water and may not provide commensurate benefits.

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