The City of Port Alberni provides high-quality​ drinking water to its 20,000 residents within the City’s jurisdiction. This includes acquiring and maintaining supply, as well as treating, testing, and delivering water to your tap.

The water distribution system consists of watersheds, treatment facilities, reservoirs, pump stations, and water mains. Upgrades are constantly bei​ng made to the water system to maintain the quality and reliability of high-quality​ drinking water.

Our water starts as rainfall and snowmelt in the mountains. The rain and melting snow flow downhill through the mountain creeks and lakes. The City’s Water intakes are China Creek and Bainbridge Lake and together they provide residents with a clean, reliable, and affordable supply of drinking water year-round. The city also has an intake on the Somass River. This Intake is maintained for emergency situations only in case of loss of our other sources.

From the intakes the water is disinfected by chlorination and ultraviolet (UV) light to meet Ministry of Health requirements before it flows to five water storage reservoirs situated throughout Port Alberni. From there your drinking water makes its way through a complex system of underground watermains and pump stations before it arrives at your tap. So…you can say that your drinking water is mountain fresh!

To view readings on the municipal water quality system, check out the documents provided below: 

• Water Quality Parameters - Annual Averages
• Raw Water Quality Parameters - Annual Averages
• 2024 Chlorine Residual Summary 
• 2024 Water Consumption 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

City Conducts First Round of Water Quality Testing at City-owned Facilities

In January 2025, the city undertook an internal water quality testing program to ensure water quality at City-owned facilities meet the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality.

Initial sampling efforts focused on likely locations where people consume drinking water, such as faucets, drinking fountains, and other common water sources. Results have come back and indicate that several locations within City facilities exceed 0.005 mg/L, the Maximum Allowable Concentration (MAC) level of lead in water, as set by Health Canada.

In response to these findings, the city immediately posted signage at the affected locations or stopped water supply at the point of consumption. Filtration systems are on order for installation at consumption points that will remain in service. The city is also undertaking additional testing throughout all City facilities and will work with affected stakeholder groups to ensure drinking water at all City facilities meet the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality.

For a complete list of sampling locations and results, please click here.