Drinking Water Week: Find Canadian drinking water advisories with Drink Guide

A thousand Canadian communities cannot drink water from the tap on any given day. How is your water doing? 

May 2nd-8th is Drinking Water Week—the perfect time to recognize that clean drinking water is not only our most important natural resource, it is our most basic human need. You are 60% water. But it can be easy to take this finite resource for granted. 

In 2015, water shortages were reported in Alberta and British Columbia for the first time due to drought. Even now, during the summer and fall, blue-green algae increasingly threatens the drinking water that flows from our taps. 

Water advisories can be issued for a number of reasons, from water line breaks to equipment failure to poor filtration or disinfection at treatment plants. No matter the cause of the advisory, using contaminated water can make you very sick.

First Nations communities, rural areas, and smaller municipal systems are much more likely to be affected by drinking water advisories than major urban centres. Depending on where you live, you can’t always trust what comes out of the tap. 

That’s why we created Drink Guide, the most comprehensive and interactive tool for finding water advisories in Canada. 

What is Drink Guide?

Drink Guide promotes safe, drinkable water for everyone and arms you with the critical information you need to stay hydrated and healthy. 

This free smartphone app alerts you to drinking water advisories in communities all across Canada. It is the most comprehensive and interactive tool for finding advisories and is the only regularly-updated list of advisories in the country.

Drinking water advisories on Drink Guide come from Water Today. 

How to use Drink Guide

Step 1: Download Drink Guide for iPhone in the app store or here: www.waterkeeper.ca/drink-guide/

Step 2: Find your location

Step 3: Check for water advisories 

Drink Guide gives you instant access to four types of advisories:

• Boil Water

• Cyanobacteria Bloom (blue-green algae)

• Water Shortage

• Do Not Consume

Using a sortable list or map view, you can quickly and easily identify communities where there are concerns about the quality of drinking water. Enter your postal code to receive personalized alerts if your community is affected.

Drink Guide promotes safe, drinkable water for everyone and arms you with the critical information you need to stay hydrated and healthy.