The question of what needs to be done to move toward safe drinking water is not as simple as most people assume. It is a question that can have both a political and a technical answer.

Often groundwater sources are analyzed with the main objective of compliance to guidelines. This is great if you want to comply with guidelines, but if you want to produce safe drinking water a different approach is required.

The first filters for municipal drinking water treatment were slow sand filters –where water is passed through a bed of fine sand at slow speeds – developed almost 200 years ago in England.

In Canada and around the world communities and individuals are drilling into underground water sources that are similar to above ground lakes. Aquifers can be found a few meters to hundreds of meters below the earth’s surface.

Days before the Walkerton outbreak in May 2000, Municipal World magazine published one of my articles warning Canadians about rampant water quality problems in rural Canada.

On May 10, 2005, an internal briefing note to Environment Minister Stephane Dion was published from an Access to Information request. The document states “Our failure to protect water has caught up with us”.

Since the formation of the Safe Drinking Water Foundation (SDWF) in 1997, we have argued that there should be greater accountability and more applied science to ensure that drinking water is not only perceived to be safe but actually is safe.

In February the B.C. government launched a new $80 million safe drinking water program.

I have attended many water conferences in Canada, the U.S. and around the world and have found that when it comes to dealing with water issues in most countries, politics frequently comes into the scientific mix.

When we turn on the tap, we assume the water has been treated properly and is safe to drink. We know someone is responsible for ensuring this is safe and if it causes illness, that they will be held accountable.