Canada
About this guideline ▾
Canada has three sets of federal water quality guidelines:
the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Canadian Water Quality Guidelines,
Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Recreational Water Quality, and
Environment and Climate Change Canada's Federal Environmental Quality Guidelines (FEQGs).
We use these on the Water Rangers platform to help interpret monitoring data.
E. coli
Freshwater
| Range | Level | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| ≤ 125.0 CFU/100 mL | Met guideline | Meets guidelines for the protection of human health |
| ≥ 126.0 CFU/100 mL | Exceeds chronic guideline | Guideline for long-term human health risk. |
| ≥ 235.0 CFU/100 mL | Exceeds acute guideline | Single sample Beach Action Value. Triggers action to protect human health. |
When an observation has multiple samples, the highest single value is compared against this standard. Any sample above the threshold flags the observation.
E. coli is a bacterium found in the intestines of humans and warm-blooded animals, used as an indicator of fecal contamination because its presence signals that water may also contain harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites. When levels are elevated, swimmers risk gastrointestinal illness and other infections. Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Recreational Water Quality set a Beach Action Value of 235 CFU/100 mL for single samples, above which swimming advisories should be considered, and a geometric mean of 126 CFU/100 mL for assessing longer-term water quality trends.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/guidelines-canadian-recreational-water-quality-summary-document.html