Drinking water guidelines and governance

Most drinking water in Canada (>85%) is sourced from surface waters like reservoirs, lakes, or rivers. Groundwater can be an important source in some regions (e.g., PEI), and in some rural and remote communities with a higher concentration of private wells. Whatever the source, there is potential for naturally occurring, and anthropogenic sources of biological or chemical contaminants to enter water supplies. Those responsible for protection of drinking water quality in Canada typically apply a multi-barrier approach to ensure that contaminants in the water supply do not reach end-users. This includes ensuring protection of the water from source to tap – including preventing contamination of surface and groundwaters, removing contaminants using drinking water treatment approaches, and preventing degradation or contamination of water in the distribution system.

The provision of safe drinking water across Canada is a shared responsibility across many agencies.

• At the federal level, Health Canada sets Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines (CDWG) for contaminants in drinking water. This is done on the advice of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water and following public consultation. For many drinking water contaminants, Maximum Acceptable Concentrations, or MACs, are set to help those managing drinking water to ensure contaminants do not pose a health risk (For more on how CDWG are developed - see Staying current with Canadian drinking water guidelines).
• At the Provincial and Territorial level, responsible Ministries and Departments determine if and how guidelines are adopted into regulation. Operators of public water supplies such as municipalities, regional districts, or the private sector are then responsible for meeting the regulatory guidelines.
• Some water supplies are under federal jurisdiction such as supplies on federal lands or in federal facilities (e.g., the Coast Guard, Armed Forces, federal correctional facilities).
• Water governance differs for First Nations communities. The 2013 Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act was repealed on June 23, 2022, with work ongoing towards a new approach to water governance. While long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves have declined since 2016, many still remain. As of August 2025, An Act respecting drinking water, wastewater and related infrastructure on First Nation lands (Bill C-61) was at report stage in the House of Commons. The Act seeks to establish minimum standards for water services in First Nations communities and affirms the right to self governance of water.
• For small drinking water systems and private wells, oversight can vary by the size of the system, the operators, and the end-users of the supply. For some private supplies there is no direct oversight, and individual households or water users must take steps to assess risks of contamination and apply appropriate controls to protect themselves and others using the supply.

The resources listed here include links to documents and websites outlining guidelines and governance of drinking water at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels, and academic literature examining drinking water management and governance in Canada.

National drinking water guidelines

• Guidelines for Canadian drinking water quality - Summary tables (Health Canada, 2025)

This website provides information on all current Canadian Guidelines for microbiological, chemical, physical, and radiological parameters in drinking water. Guidance documents are provided for issues that do not meet the criteria for guideline development and for which operational or management guidance is warranted.

Selected Provincial and Territorial drinking water resources

This list provides an overview of essential resources related to drinking water governance and management in different parts of Canada. This list is not exhaustive, and additional information may be sourced via local and regional health authorities, municipalities, regional districts, and private water operators.

Additional provincial, territorial, and national entities involved in water governance in Canada

• Prairie Provinces Water Board (PPWB)
  This website provides information on the PPWB, which includes representation from the provincial governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and federal agencies to facilitate cooperative sharing and management of interprovincial waters that cross jurisdictional boundaries.

• Mackenzie River Basin Board (MRBB)
  This website provides information on the MRBB, which includes representation from the governments of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and the government of Canada to facilitate cooperative management of shared water resources of the Mackenzie River Basin.

• Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment – Water (CCME)
  This website provides information on CCME – a council composed of the environment ministers from the federal, provincial and territorial governments – in relation to collective work related to managing water resources, with a current priority to reduce climate change impacts on water systems.

• Federation of Canadian Municipalities(FCM)
  This website provides information on FCM, representing more than 2100 Canadian municipalities, many of which share responsibility for provision of safe drinking water to communities. FCM supports identifying and sharing best practices, informing water asset management strategies, and addressing climate change-related water infrastructure vulnerabilities.

• Canadian Water Agency (CWA)
  This website provides information on the CWA. Established in 2024, this federal agency supports coordination and collaboration with provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples, and other agencies and partners to improve freshwater management in Canada, including addressing national and regional transboundary issues.

Selected literature on Indigenous-led and collaborative water governance in Canada

• Rethinking Indigenous community-led water sustainability: Decolonial and relational approaches in western Canada (Datta et al., 2025)
  This peer-reviewed article examines how existing water governance structures affect Indigenous community-led governance of water resources and considers collaborative water stewardship approaches to bridge Indigenous and Western governance frameworks.

• Community-led water governance: Meanings of drinking water governance within remote First Nations and Métis communities in Saskatchewan (Acharibasam et al., 2024)
  This peer-reviewed article reports on using an Indigenist research methodology to examine community drinking water resilience and the role of collaborative water governance in improving access to safe drinking water.

• The Atlantic First Nations Water Authority (AFNWA): An Indigenous water utility guided by Etuaptmumk or Two-Eyed Seeing (Fuller et al., 2024)
  This perspective paper provides an overview of the formation of the AFNWA, the only Indigenous-owned and operated water utility in Canada, and shares experiences of applying Two-Eyed Seeing to building an Indigenous-led water utility.

• Decolonizing water governance: Addressing the water crisis in Ontario through recognition of First Nations jurisdiction (OFNTCS, 2022)
  This position paper from the Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation (OFNTCS) suggests a two-track approach towards addressing systemic issues in the provision of safe water and sanitation on reserves in Ontario.

• The provision of drinking water in First Nations communities and Ontario municipalities: Insights into the emergence of water sharing arrangements (Deaton and Lipka, 2021)
  This peer-reviewed article provides contextual background on the use of water sharing arrangements (WSA) between communities in Ontario and an analysis of participation in WSAs among Ontario municipalities and First Nations communities.

• Water policy and governance in Canada (Renzetti and Dupont, eds, 2017)
  This e-book provides a detailed assessment of Canadian water governance and policy. The chapters examine issues ranging from local to national scales, considering a variety of perspectives including transboundary management, decentralized governance, and Indigenous water governance.

Selected literature on water system risk, governance and adaptation frameworks in Canada

• Development of water safety risk matrices to improve water safety in Arctic drinking water systems in Nunavut, Canada (Chalmers et al., 2025)
  This peer-reviewed article reports on existing water governance in Nunavut and evaluates the potential use of water safety planning approaches in the Territory.

• Transboundary aquifer management across the Americas: Hydro-diplomacy as an accelerator of adaptive groundwater governance amid climate change challenges (Rubin et al., 2024)
  This peer-reviewed article highlights issues related to international transboundary water governance, the role of bodies such as the International Joint Commission (IJC), and how climate change presents new challenges in transboundary water governance.

• One Water system risk management planning guide (Engineers and Geoscientists BC, 2024)
  This planning guide explains the One Water approach to governance and management of water resources and provides tools for community implementation, and support for preparing a screening assessment and/or One Water system risk management plan.

• Headwater-to-consumer drinking water security assessment framework and associated indicators for small communities in high-income countries (Nath et al., 2022).
  This peer reviewed article reviews the literature on frameworks and tools used in water security assessments and presents an indicator-based framework to support water security management in rural, remote and marginalized communities in high-income countries.

• Drinking-water management in Canadian provinces and territories: a review and comparison of management approaches for ensuring safe drinking water (Bereskie et al. 2018)
  This review article compares approaches to drinking water management within Canada and elsewhere in the world, identifying potential management gaps and policy recommendations.