Canadian Water Supplies

Abstract

EIGHT years ago the Canadian Department of Mines and Reservoirs began a survey of all the water supplies in Canada, with the view of determining the mineral and other content of the industrial and domestic water of the Dominion. The final results of this survey are now published in “Industrial Waters of Canada”, by H. A. Leverin (Ottawa: King's Printer. Pp.112. 25 cents). The investigation involved the determination of suspended matter, silica, iron, calcium, magnesium, sulphate, alkalis, potassium, bicarbonate, free carbonic acid, .chloride, nitrate, oxygen, hydrogen-ion and colour. The report discusses the origin and distribution of these impurities and their importance in many industrial processes. It appears that distilled water is necessary not only in the manufacture of chemicals or drugs but also in the manufacture of ice, storage batteries, yeast, aerated waters and the plating of mirrors. In the paper and pulp industry, in the making of such varied commodities as textiles, soap and ice, and in brewing, distilling, baking, tanning, canning, etc., the nature and amount of the impurities are of much significance. The processes used in the investigations are fully described, and the publication contains tabulated analyses of surface and civic water supplies and maps showing the hardness of town water supplies throughout the Dominion.