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Half of Canadian households treated drinking water in 2015: Statistics Canada

Ottawa – In 2015, half of Canadian households treated their drinking water, according to a new Statistics Canada report that shines light on the factors behind water treatment decisions.

The most frequent reason for treatment was to improve the taste, odour or appearance of the water (45 per cent of households treating their water), Statistics Canada said in a news release. The most common water treatment technique was the use of jug filters, which were reported by 25 per cent of Canadian households.

Households in Newfoundland and Labrador (65 per cent) were most likely to treat their drinking water before using it, while Quebec households (39 per cent) were least likely to do so. Among census metropolitan areas, households in Winnipeg (73 per cent), Barrie (68 per cent) and Calgary (65 per cent) were most likely to treat their water. Conversely, this was less common in the Windsor (42 per cent), Québec (35 per cent) and Sherbrooke (25 per cent) CMAs.

In general, households that owned their home were more likely to treat their water (55 per cent) than those that did not (38 per cent). Similarly, 56 per cent of households with children treated their water compared to 48 per cent of those without children. Households with a total annual income of more than $100,000 treated their water in 58 per cent of the cases compared with 43 per cent of households with an income under $60,000.

Finally, households living in a dwelling built before 1995 were less likely to treat their water (47 per cent) than those with newer houses (62 per cent).

Of the 10 per cent of households that received a boil water advisory in 2015, 60 per cent treated their water by boiling it, 65 per cent used bottled water and 12 per cent filtered their water.

Read the full report.