Ottawa drinking water path

Source

Ottawa River Surface water

to plant

Treatment

Britannia Water Purification Plant filtration · +1 more plant

finished

Mains

Distribution Central system blends both plants into a common network of roughly 3,000 km of watermains with reservoirs and elevated tanks, serving about 90% of Ottawa’s population. Smaller communal well systems serve outlying villages (Carp, Vars, Munster, Richmond area, Greely).

drinking water

Tap

Household tap Ottawa

Source & supply
Ottawa River
Central system blends both plants into a common network of roughly 3,000 km of watermains with reservoirs and elevated tanks, serving about 90% of Ottawa’s population. Smaller communal well systems serve outlying villages (Carp, Vars, Munster, Richmond area, Greely).
Ottawa River water is naturally soft and tea-coloured from forest organics; chloramine is used for secondary disinfection in the distribution system.
Treatment
Britannia Water Purification Plant
West-end plant (c. 1961) at Cassels Street; nominal capacity 360 ML/day. Coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection; identical process train to Lemieux Island.
Lemieux Island Water Purification Plant
Central plant (c. 1931/1932) on Lemieux Island; nominal capacity 400 ML/day. Shares the Ottawa River source and multi-barrier process with Britannia.
Treatment on record: filtration · +1 more plant
At the tap
Hardness 112 mg/L (Moderate)
Grade C (Fair)
pH 8 · lead 0 μg/L
ECCC / municipal open data (seed)