Water Quality Reports

Before 1953, lead was commonly used in pipes. Houses built after 1952 typically used copper and, more recently, plastic for water service pipes. The Ontario Drinking Water Standard for lead is 10 micrograms per litre. This means that water with a lead concentration below this standard does not represent a health hazard. The water flowing through Orillia's distribution system has a very low level of lead - less than two micrograms per litre, on average. Houses that do not have lead service piping receive water that contains this low level of lead. However, if water travels through a lead pipe between the water main and the house, it can pick up trace amounts of lead from the interior surface of that pipe, increasing the levels of lead.

Municipal residential drinking water systems are required to have a specified number of home and business owners in higher-risk areas volunteer to have their tap water tested for excess levels of lead twice a year - in winter and in summer. Drinking water system owners collect samples from indoor taps and from the distribution pipes that deliver drinking water to properties, to be analyzed.

Large municipal residential systems that report lead results above a certain level (threshold) over several sam­pling rounds must prepare and submit a corro­sion control plan, showing how they will reduce the concentration of lead in their drinking water.

System owners and operators must provide the peo­ple who live in these homes or work in these businesses with a report of the test results. If these tests show that a drinking water sample from plumbing exceeds the standard for lead, municipal and non-municipal owners and operators must report the re­sults to the local Medical Officer of Health and work with the local health unit to tell the people who live or work in these buildings what they can do to reduce their exposure to lead in drinking water.

The City has completed the sampling requirements and is currently doing reduced sampling on an annual basis due to the low threshold limit results received from the testing provided.

Helpful Links:

Some Commonly Asked Questions About Lead and Human Health

Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality

Technical Support Document for Ontario Drinking Water Standards, Objectives and Guidelines

For more information, please contact us.

2017 Drinking Water System Annual Report

Ontario Drinking Water Regulation 170/03