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Claigan Environmental in Kanata couldn’t at first figure out why aluminum levels were so high in water it had used to try out consumer products, said Bruce Calder, Claigan’s vice-president of operations. The company reports to manufacturers on how well their products comply with safety regulations.

“We use tap water to see how other products react with tap water,” he said. A cheap coffeemaker, for instance, could have parts that dissolve dangerous chemicals into hot water. Claigan checks that sort of thing. In the process, Claigan has found the Ottawa water has “sky-high” levels of aluminum as it comes out of the tap.

Ottawa has historically been a leader in reducing the amount of aluminum it uses to treat drinking water, Calder said, which makes the high readings a bit of a surprise. But they’re high enough that Calder suggests filtering before drinking it. Ordinary consumer water filters will do fine.

(Claigan doesn’t do consumer water testing or work with filter manufacturers, he said: “If consumers had a rush to get their water tested or buy Brita filters, we would not benefit in any way.”)

An aluminum-based compound called alum is used as a “coagulant” in water treatment and has been since the Romans did it. Alum causes contaminants to clump together for easier filtering.

“Almost every major Canadian city has this added as a coagulant. It’s used to clear the dirt out of the water,” Calder said.

In very high doses, much higher than anything in city water, aluminum causes brain damage.