Testing the waters

A new drinking water regulation from the Ministry of the Environment will relieve many Ontario churches of costly testing and equipment requirements. The new regulation, which came into effect in June, allows churches that own and operate certain types of drinking-water systems to either post signs saying that their water has not been tested or test their water according to steps outlined by the ministry.
Previous regulations had called for churches drawing drinking water from wells or ground water sources to have an engineer design a new system, install new water treatment equipment and undertake regular water testing. The costs for these services could have been as high as $20,000 in the first year.
Churches are now allowed to post signs indefinitely, and if they do monthly microbial testing and the tests come back clean, they do not have to install the treatment equipment.
The Ministry of the Environment has created Supplying Safe Drinking Water, outlining the responsibilities under the new regulation.