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The report recommended the provincial health officer improve oversight and monitoring of drinking water safety.

Almost 20 years ago, in the rural community of Walkerton, Ont., more than 2,300 people were sickened from E. coli contaminated drinking water and seven people died.

An inquiry later produced recommendations that influenced drinking water policy across Canada, Bellringer’s report says.

One recommendation calls for universal adoption of the multi-barrier approach to safe drinking water, which reduces contamination risks, says the report.

Bellringer said climate change, industrial activity and population growth are all having impacts on B.C.’s drinking water, but the government has not been keeping up.

“We found the Ministry of Health has not been as vigilant about protecting our drinking water as it has in the past,” said Bellringer in a telephone news conference.

The ministry was meant to provide leadership and co-ordination but over time that leadership has waned, she said.

The report says it found no reporting on outcomes of actions the health ministry had taken to protect drinking water from 2016-2018.

“This may be because health had not identified drinking water as a priority area,” says the report.

The Ministry of Health said in response to the audit that it accepts a government-wide commitment to a drinking water strategy will increase protection.

The ministry said it is developing a water system risk management plan focused on “watershed to tap; sink to watershed.”