DEVELOPMENT OF DRINKING WATER GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION

Abstract

In Canada, drinking water quality is an important aspect of public health protection. At the federal level, it is the Department of National Health and Welfare that has the lead responsibility in this area. In addition to its responsibilities for ensuring safe water within the federal domain, it publishes the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality and conducts research on the quality and treatment of drinking water.The fourth edition of the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality was published in March, 1990. This document prescribes the limits for microbiological, chemical and radiological contaminants in water which are applied by provincial and federal authorities within their respective jurisdictions. These guidelines are developed through the Federal-Provincial Subcommittee on Drinking Water. The Secretariat of the Subcommittee on Drinking Water, the Department of National Health and Welfare, provides the scientific criteria for the parameters under review, with a recommended maximum concentration, based solely on health considerations. The Subcommittee then considers other issues such as technical feasibility, analytical questions, and socio-economic factors such as the cost and expected benefits. When the proposed guideline has been approved by the Subcommittee on Drinking Water, it passes to the next senior levels of health committees, which require unanimous approval of the 10 provinces, 2 territories and the federal government. The new recommended maximum concentration limits are denoted as ’proposed’, in the subsequent version of Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality with a 1-year period for comment. If no evidence to question the number comes to light within one year, the maximum acceptable concentrations are considered final. However, review of a number may be instituted if new data or other new factors indicate that such a review is necessary.