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Tap water tips

If the water is safe to drink in your community, The Greenpeace Living Guide suggests you reconsider bottled water. First, you avoid plastic bottles. Second, you avoid the appalling practice of paying private companies for a public resource: water.

Given recent news reports about lead water pipes in older houses, here are a few tips for tap water drinkers. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment (OME) cautions that homes built before the 1950s are more likely to have lead pipes and service lines. Homes built between the mid-1950s and 1989 are unlikely to have lead pipes and service lines, but might have lead in some fixtures or solder used to connect pipes. (This information may vary by province. Contact your municipality.) According to the OME, lead pipes and fixtures should be identifiable by a plumber or home inspector. Lead service lines should be indentifiable by your municipality.

If you think you have lead pipes, fixtures, solder and/or service lines, contact your municipality. Lead can have serious health effects, in particular for children age six and under and pregnant women. You should be able to request water testing from your municipality. While you are waiting for test results and/or to fix the problem, you might choose to drink water from other sources. This is particularly important for pregnant women, children and water used to prepare infant formula. You can choose to drink bottled water or use an NSF-recommended water filtration system. If you continue to drink tap water, the OME recommends flushing the tap for five minutes to get rid of standing water and using cold, flushed water for drinking and preparing food (according to the City of Toronto, this might not work in high rises – if you are concerned about lead in drinking water, contact your landlord and/or your local health department). Don’t drink hot water from the tap – it could contain higher lead levels. Boiling water does not eliminate lead.

Greenpeace cannot make health recommendations. If you think you have lead service lines, pipes, solder or fixtures – contact your municipality! As with all environmental and health issues it is up to you to ask questions, do research and decide how you want to proceed.

For more information:: The Ontario Ministry of the Environment; A primer from the City of Toronto; Environment Canada; Tap water resources from CBC, including an excellent set of links