What's in your water? In St. John's, not all contaminants are tested
Health Canada sets guidelines for water quality testing across the country, including a list of 75 possible contaminants, but in St. John's less than half of those listed items are being tested for.
The guidelines aren't mandatory and each province and territory sets the standard for what municipalities have to test for. In St. John's, that means 20 out of 75 possible contaminants.
That ranks St. John's, along with Iqualit, the lowest out of the 18 municipalities surveyed. In Ottawa, all 75 contaminants are tested for, while in Calgary, Edmonton and Halifax, that number is 74.
"It's a matter of risk management. You concentrate on the obvious risks and address those," says Paul Mackey, deputy city manager of public works in St. John's.
"You can kind of get lost if you start chasing the what-ifs and so on."
According to Mackey, the city will only test outside its standard parameters if there is a suspected problem, adding that since the watershed area is kept clean because of strict city rules, there's no reason to be concerned.
"Our watersheds are protected from essentially all development or activity within the watershed and that has been the case for many, many years," said Mackey.
"The result is that our watersheds, our raw water is very, very good quality."
No guarantee if not tested
If they're not being tested, there's no way to tell what could be in the water people are drinking, he said.
"These chemicals can slowly accumulate in our body and it can affect any system, depending on the chemicals," said Sarkar.
"Think of the long-term implications to not only the adult, but the children, the young adult, the pregnant women, the fetus all can be exposed."
For example, Sarkar said the city does not test for benzene, a known carcinogen, despite the fact that it is released in a vehicle's exhaust and the city's watersheds are located in areas with vehicle traffic.
"We have two major water supplies, Bay Bulls Big Pond and Windsor Lake, and you see that both of them are so close to highways, traffic, so there is always the chance the leeching of oil can continuously go to the water," said Sarkar.
Sarkar added he thinks the City of St. John's should test for the full list of contaminants at least once so residents know exactly what's in their water.
'Blind trust'
When it comes to knowing what's in the water, St. John's resident Dave Bartlett said it isn't a secret there's lots of traffic near the city's watershed.
"There's roads all around Bay Bulls Big Pond and Windsor Lake and they don't test for things that come out of car's exhaust?," he said.
"Uncertainty is never a good thing when you're talking about health."
Bartlett added he always assumed the water from the tap was safe for his two children to drink because he was never told otherwise.
"I guess it's kind of blind trust because the city is saying that it's good to drink so you kind of just assume that the local government will have your best interests and you just drink it," said Bartlett.
Compared to what other municipalities test, Bartlett said he was shocked to see St. John's ranked so low.