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.
pH
Saltwater
| Low | High | Level | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.0 – 8.7 | Met guideline | Met guideline in this range | |
| 0.0 – 7.0 | 8.7 – 14.0 | Exceeds chronic guideline | Chronic impacts to aquatic life outside of health pH range |
pH measures how acidic or alkaline water is, and it affects the toxicity of many substances in the water as well as the ability of fish and invertebrates to breathe, reproduce, and survive. Outside the acceptable range, fish experience increasing physiological stress, and sensitive invertebrates like mayflies can be affected at levels that seem only mildly acidic. The Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers (CCREM) recommends a long-term freshwater pH range of 6.5 to 9.0 to protect aquatic life.
https://ccme.ca/en/chemical/162