Your Local Water

For residents of Metro Vancouver... don’t waste your money and your health on water treatment that doesn’t match Vancouver’s unique water conditions. Choose a water treatment system that effectively targets the contaminants coming out of your tap. Here is some background information that will help you make smart choices when buying water filtration equipment.

Eleven of the most frequently asked questions about tap water in Metro Vancouver.

Only three things are OK to flush down the toilet —pee, poo and toilet paper. 
Flushing ANYTHING else clogs our sewer systems, which means that actual people must go into the sewers to remove our mess that damages equipment and causes sewers to overflow. 

 

Although garden hose filters can be very effective at removing
unwanted chemicals from tap water, most garden hoses are made
of vinyl which is NOT a material suitable for delivering potable water
for human consumption. Also, the brass fittings on garden hoses
are unlikely to be lead-free...

Chlorine, chloramine (chlorine plus ammonia) and ozone are the most commonly used chemicals for disinfecting municipal tap water. These disinfectants are powerful oxidizing agents that react with organic material present in the water to which they have been applied. These reactions cause the formation of more than 700 new chemical compounds called disinfection byproducts (DBPs) many of which are know to be toxic. Only 9 of these are currently regulated. 

When chlorine is added to water it reacts with organic matter present in the water resulting in the formation of hundreds of chemical compounds called chlorination byproducts. Although these byproducts are not yet well understood, they are known to be toxic. Only 9 of them are regulated... 

Trihalomethanes (THMs) are a group of 4 chemical compounds that form in water disinfected with chlorine. They are known to be toxic but are not yet well understood by science. Of over 700 known chemicals that result from adding disinfectant to water, only 9 are currently regulated...

Chloramine is used as an alternative to chlorine for disinfecting drinking water. Canada is currently (2019) in the process of updating its guidelines for the use of chloramine in drinking water. Chloramine is a more persistent but less effective disinfectant than chlorine...

Best methods to remove disinfectant chemicals from your shower or bath water depend on whether your tap water is disinfected with chlorine or chloramine, and whether you are allergic to sulfites.

Fluoride is not added to tap water supplied by the Metro Vancouver Water District... Tap water supplied by the Metro Vancouver Water District contains less than 0.05 mg/l of naturally occurring fluoride. Communities in British Columbia that add fluoride to their drinking water are listed...

Fort St. John, Cranbrook and Terrace are the only communities in British Columbia that currently add fluoride to tap water. Fluoride is NOT added to water in Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island or the Okanagan. The results of community...

The most effective methods to remove fluoride from drinking water are distillation and reverse osmosis. Activated alumina and bone char are also used for fluoride reduction however these are weak, pH dependent (and not optimal) methods to remove a very toxic substance.