ANNUAL DRINKING WATER REPORTS ARE IMMINENT

The Region of Waterloo Annual (Drinking ) Water Reports are being advertised in local newspapers as being available this Friday, February 28, 2020. The annual municipal drinking water reports for last year (2019) actually are already on-line for Kitchener and Waterloo. Cambridge did not seem to have theirs available yet nor could I find Woolwich Township's. Keep in mind that the Regional Annual Reports encompass all three cities as well as the four Townships (Woolwich, Wellsley, North Dumphries and Wilmot) and cover much more than the municipal ones. The municipal reports essentially cover that for which they are responsible such as local distribution issues including lead, bacteria (E.Coli/Coliforms), THMs (trihalomethanes) and HAA (Haloacetic Acids).

While these reports as mandated by the province of Ontario Clean Water Act are very helpful, they are still lacking in many aspects. The Region have improved their defining of various acronyms such as NTU, Free Chlorine, MF, CT etc. but more could still be done. Also including the Ontario Drinking Water Standard along with each industrial contaminant tested for, is long overdue. There are also dozens to hundreds more of these industrial contaminants such as solvents as well as agricultural contaminants (pesticides) that simply are not being reported in these reports. Perhaps the Region are testing for them but they certainly are not telling the public about them. This would include NDMA (a huge contaminant in Elmira and probably elsewhere). At the same time the municipalities also seem to be avoiding some parameters such as asbestos fibres in the water courtesy of old asbestos water pipes still in use. Lastly I would love to see actual concentrations of all contaminants in the raw water whether from wells (groundwater) or from the Grand River. Of course politically that could be a nightmare as politicians would be called upon to explain where the various crap is coming from and why don't they stop it at source.