August 25, 2009

A recent poll by Circle of Blue found that 65 percent of the Canadians surveyed were very concerned about the lack of safe drinking water. And 82 percent agreed that solving Canada’s drinking water problems will require significant help from companies.

(As part of a larger international survey, Circle of Blue / GlobeScan polled 1006 Canadians; they released the survey results on August 17, 2009.)

This is not the first poll to suggest that Canadians do not trust their drinking water.

A survey of Canadian water attitudes – commissioned by RBC and Unilever and administered by Ipsos Reid in February 2009 – found that only 17 percent of the 2,165 Canadians polled were very confident about the safety and quality of Canada’s drinking water. Another 55 percent were somewhat confident.

Likely reflecting this lack of confidence, only 41 percent of those surveyed typically drank water directly from the tap at home. Twenty-nine percent drank bottle water, and 27 percent filtered their tap water before drinking it.