A Brief History

In BC, drinking water safety legislation was introduced decades ago with a few lines about general responsibilities written into the Health Act and the Water Act. Since then, it has evolved into a complex set of government acts and regulations that have increased the responsibilities for water system operators and the regulators who oversee them.

These changes came about as a result of newly identified threats to drinking water safety and the failure of existing practices to prevent large outbreaks of waterborne disease.

Current legislation outlines in detail responsibilities in the areas of source protection, construction and plan approvals, treatment, monitoring, emergency response planning, and reporting requirements.

These regulations offer improved ”source to tap” protection of water supplies and support a more aggressive response to threats to water quality.