Health committee  Thank you. It's wonderful to know your background as a chemical engineer. The idea of trying to streamline provincial, municipal, and federal usage of water is a true challenge. One of the things I like about looking at other countries is that Canada may find other ways of doing business.

Health committee  Yes. I think all three of us spoke quite clearly on the need for a first nations voice at some level. I would agree with Mr. Leonard that striving for new regulations shouldn't be just noise, but something that collectively all Canadians will be a part of, including indigenous people as part of that review, however that might be done.

Health committee  Thank you, committee members and Mr. Casey, for providing me this opportunity today to talk about Canada and drinking water. I’m presently the Director of the Centre for Water Resources Studies, a professor, and NSERC Industrial Research Chair at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Transport committee  In the United States they use an action level. The action level is 15 micrograms per litre. The action level basically means that if a city saw 90% of their homes at greater than that action level, they would have to require corrective action. That's very different from a maximum acceptable concentration, which is what Health Canada uses.

Transport committee  Right.

Transport committee  Agreed.

Transport committee  To place it in context, the estimate for the city of Chicago is about 300,000, so for Canada 200,000 would be a bit low. If you doubled it to 400,000 or 500,000, maybe you would hit it right. There is a complexity to it. Some cities, to get lead out, at one point in time removed their side and left the homeowners' side.

Transport committee  One challenge with lead service lines is that it's sometimes very difficult to look inside the home to find evidence of the lead pipe itself.

Transport committee  If you start to dig, with the amount of equipment and cost to have a construction firm on site, you might as well replace it. You have to remember, when you think about your own home or your neighbours' homes, that some people have very complex front yards. If you start to dig holes in those complex front yards, which might have gardens or decks, it will be a costly venture for some homeowners just to find it.

Transport committee  You've hit the nail on the head with regard to the problem utilities face. I mentioned Regina, and they are very reluctant to add phosphate for this very reason. They discharge their waste water into a river system. Blue-green algae would be a top priority for them. Other chemicals could be carbonates or silicates, or there could be pH adjustment, which Ottawa does.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  Yes, and I want to be clear. If you fully remove the lead service line, not partially remove it—

Transport committee  If you fully remove it, you're in a much better spot. We've seen homes that have returned to much lower concentrations, with 80% removal of lead within three months. You can significantly lower your lead burden by fully removing the lead line.

Transport committee  Well, what we talked about previously are the other components inside the home. There might be lead solder or there might be some kind of interesting fixture there, but to have a significant impact on the amount of lead, you have to fully remove the lead pipe.

Transport committee  Yes.