Mitch Murphy, Minister of Technology and Environment, has announced proposed guidelines for monitoring the quality of drinking water by operators of central water supply systems in Prince Edward Island.
"The guidelines will be used to determine how often water quality samples should be collected from central systems and to assist water providers in developing quality assurance programs that comply with nationally recognized standards," stated Minister Murphy. The Minister added that the proposed monitoring guidelines will not alter the standards of drinking water quality testing, as the Department will continue to use the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality published by Health Canada.
About 40 per cent of the Island's population receives water from central water supply systems which range in service size from small subdivisions to major towns and cities of PEI. Municipal water utilities have been consulted about the proposed guidelines and they are intended to be in place by the fall of this year.
"The quality of PEI drinking water, especially water from central water supply systems, is generally excellent," indicated Minister Murphy. The Department acknowledges that most central water supplies undergo a degree of water quality monitoring to ensure that the water that reaches the consumer is safe. However, the level of detail and frequency of these monitoring programs varies considerably from one water system to another, and generally only the larger water utilities maintain intensive monitoring programs.
Minister Murphy stated that the proposed guidelines will prescribe requirements for monitoring programs and will recommend frequency of sampling for bacterial and chemical quality of water. He also added that the guidelines have been tailored to fit the size and characteristics of different water systems found on Prince Edward Island.
While the guidelines provide direction on the number of samples and location of sampling sites, the Department intends to work with individual water system operators to design sampling programs and will play a central role in the management of data collected through these efforts.