St. Catharines drinking water path

Source

Lake Erie (via Welland Canal intake near Allanburg) Surface water

to plant

Treatment

Decew Falls WTP chlorination · UV · filtration

finished

Mains

Distribution City owns a Class II stand-alone distribution system (about 605 km of watermains, ~3,580 hydrants) in three pressure zones inside the urban boundary. Potable water is purchased wholesale from Niagara Region’s Decew plant, which also serves Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and parts of Lincoln.

drinking water

Tap

Household tap St. Catharines

Source & supply
Lake Erie (via Welland Canal intake near Allanburg)
City owns a Class II stand-alone distribution system (about 605 km of watermains, ~3,580 hydrants) in three pressure zones inside the urban boundary. Potable water is purchased wholesale from Niagara Region’s Decew plant, which also serves Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and parts of Lincoln.
Despite sitting on Lake Ontario, St. Catharines drinks Lake Erie water diverted through the Welland Canal to Decew Falls.
Treatment
Decew Falls Water Treatment Plant
Niagara Region conventional plant at 2700 Decew Road, St. Catharines. Three treatment trains; combined rated capacity 227,300 m³/day. Screening, coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation, filtration, sodium hypochlorite disinfection with UV enhancement. Canal water reaches the plant by a gravity supply channel about 5.4 km long.
Treatment on record: chlorination · UV · filtration
At the tap
Hardness 182 mg/L (Very hard)
Grade B (Good)
pH 8 · lead 0.6 μg/L
ECCC / municipal open data (seed)