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More than 300,000 Canadians contract an acute stomach bug every year from the municipally-supplied water that comes out of their taps, some likely ending up in hospital or even dying, a new government study suggests.

The research also concludes millions of people are still getting their drinking water from substandard municipal and private systems — despite repeated safety warnings after the tainted-water disaster in Walkerton, Ont.

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The authors at Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada argue the overall figures show the risk of getting sick from drinking water in Canada remains low.

But they suggest that more municipalities look at implementing multiple, fail-safe treatment “barriers,” shown to be the most effective way to keep water safe. The majority of Canadians get their tap water from such sources.

Almost 1.5 million people, however, are still served by municipal systems that have only one form of treatment or none at all, often drawing on surface water prone to contamination, the researchers say.