For at least four years, Ontario officials have known that the provincial safety limit for lead in drinking water doesn’t go far enough to protect the public, newly released documents show.
But despite internal proposals about taking action, and dialogue with municipalities regarding changes, no new lead quality standard has been introduced.
Officials at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment met to discuss reducing the province’s lead limit from 10 parts per billion (ppb) to match the federal Health Canada standard of five ppb as far back as June 2021, documents show.
The internal presentation documents — one of which is titled “Minister’s Briefing” and contains what it describes as “confidential advice” on lead in drinking water — were obtained through a freedom of information reques