June 22, 2007 The Regional Municipality of York scores top marks for quality of drinking water

York Region water receives near perfect score on provincial assessment

NEWMARKET � The Regional Municipality of York has scored extremely well in the Ontario Ministry of the Environment Chief Drinking Water Inspector�s Annual Report for 2006, with an overall compliance rating of 99.7 per cent.

�I am very pleased to see that once again York Region is receiving top marks for water quality from the Province of Ontario,� said York Region Chairman and CEO Bill Fisch. �We have an extensive and highly sophisticated water distribution network, and our water and wastewater staff deserve a lot of credit for continuing to provide high quality drinking water to our area municipalities.�

York Region has 15 wells and water treatment facilities that were subject to 3,204 separate tests by officials with the Ministry of the Environment (MOE). The MOE tests for a number of different factors in assessing compliance with provincial water quality standards, including water treatment and water quality monitoring by municipalities.

Below are the 2006 results for York Region:

Facility	Compliance items/Tests	Overall Score (%)
Ansnorveldt Water Supply	216/216	100
Aurora Well Supply	242/242	100
Ballantrae/Musselman�s Well Supply	255/255	100
Georgina Water Treatment Plant	251/256	98.1
Holland Landing Well Supply	236/236	100
Keswick Water Treatment Plant	73/73	100
King City Well Supply	60/60	100
Kleinburg Well Supply	248/248	100
Mount Albert Well Supply	235/235	100
Newmarket Well Supply	237/237	100
Nobleton Well Supply	245/245	100
Queensville (York Region) Well Supply	236/236	100
Schomberg Well Supply	249/253	98.4
Stouffville Well Supply	257/257	100
York Distribution System	153/155	98.7
TOTAL	3,193/3,204	99.7

�York Region residents can be confident that they will continue to receive some of the highest quality drinking water in Ontario,� said York Region�s Commissioner of Transportation and Works Bruce Macgregor. �With an internationally-recognized ISO-9001 quality control system in place to constantly improve our service delivery, York Region remains at the forefront of world-class drinking water treatment and distribution.�

While York Region did fare very well in overall compliance, there were 11 items out of the 3,204 recorded which were considered to be non-compliant. None of these 11 items related to the safety of the water system or the Region�s water supply.

Of these:

� Five items cited for minor omissions in on-site log books
� Four items cited for minor technical issues in treatment
� Two items were cited for late renewal of operator certification

Regional staff have followed-up on each item to prevent future occurrences.

For more information on York Region water quality, reports are viewable at www.york.ca under the links for water and wastewater.

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Media Contact: Michael Kemp, Corporate Communications, York Region
Phone: (905) 830-4444, ext. 1232 or Cell (905) 251-6419
Email: michael.kemp@york.ca