In an investigative report released Wednesday, a national environmental group criticizes Canada’s drinking water standards, and recommends the country follow the lead of other industrialized nations by adopting a national approach to the issue.

The paper, produced by Ecojustice and titled Waterproof: Standards, says: “Canada’s drinking water standards continue to lag behind international benchmarks and are at risk of falling even farther behind.”

The report compares the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality with corresponding frameworks in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, as well as the World Health Organization’s guidelines.

The co-author, Vancouver-based Ecojustice lawyer Randy Christensen, said it’s a problem that Canada lacks national drinking water standards, unlike most other developed industrialized nations.

This doesn’t mean Canadians should stop drinking tap water, Christensen said, but he hopes people will be more aware of these issues — and he believes the government should be doing more to ensure safe drinking water.

Ralph Pentland, an Ottawa-based water policy consultant, agreed with Ecojustice’s findings.

Pentland, who has worked on water policy for 50 years, including 30 years with the federal government, said: “Clearly, Canada has less stringent drinking water standards than most other industrialized nations. That is partly because we have no national standards. We have national guidelines and a patchwork of provincial standards.”

Steve Hrudey, professor emeritus of environmental toxicology at the University of Alberta, disagreed with some of the report’s conclusions. But Hrudey agreed with its claim that microbial contamination poses the “greatest threat” in drinking water.

Christensen said the threat of microbial contamination is especially important in B.C., where so many people rely on surface water.

There were more than 440 boil-water advisories in effect across B.C. Wednesday, according to totals from the province’s five regional health authorities. A 2008 report from the Canadian Medical Association Journal found B.C. had more boil-water advisories per capita than any other province.

A Health Canada spokeswoman said Wednesday she was not immediately able to comment on the Ecojustice report.

dfumano@theprovince.com

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