Background on guidance documents
Health Canada, in collaboration with the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water, may choose to develop guidance documents for two reasons. The first is to provide operational or management guidance related to specific drinking water–related issues (such as boil water advisories or corrosion control), in which case the documents would provide only limited scientific information or health risk assessment.
The second instance is to make risk assessment information available when a guideline is not deemed necessary. Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality are developed specifically for contaminants that meet all of the following criteria:
- exposure to the contaminant could lead to adverse health effects;
- the contaminant is frequently detected or could be expected to be found in a large number of drinking water supplies throughout Canada; and
- the contaminant is detected, or could be expected to be detected, at a level that is of possible health significance.
