Water Quality

Drinking water is drawn from the Red Deer River. Before it is delivered to your taps, the water is treated with the goal of purifying the water to remove potential contaminants.

About your water

Drinking Water

The City of Red Deer monitors water quality daily at various stages of treatment, as well as in the distribution system. This process ensures that all water quality parameters meet and exceed the acceptable limits as outlined in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality and by Alberta Environment and Parks. Every year, water is sampled 8,000 times. Our laboratories conduct approximately 20,000 tests on those samples.

Water quality during the spring - Is it safe to drink?

Yes – your drinking water is safe to drink year-round. In the spring, the snow melts and causes high river flows. This leads to higher river turbidity and increased organic materials in the water. This can cause changes in the hardness, odour, taste, and colour of your drinking water. For more information, please refer to the Spring Run-off – Q&A Backgrounder web page.

Why is fluoride in drinking water?

The City of Red Deer adds fluoride to treated drinking water for the public's dental health protection as outlined in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality and supported by Alberta Health - Fluoride.

Water Quality Parameters

As of June 2019, The City of Red Deer will be adding monthly Water Quality Parameters, as well as the summary report for 2018.  

Additional information