This data set provides pesticide sample analyses results for drinking water samples for the province’s Pesticide Monitoring Program.
Over 100 wells are monitored annually, with samples being collected in drinking water wells of private homes, schools, municipalities, and seniors’ housing facilities. Sampling of the wells is conducted each January/February by Departmental staff. The samples are sent to a laboratory in New Brunswick for analysis. The purpose of the program is to monitor the environment for the presence of pesticide residues.
To create a long-term record of pesticide detections in drinking water, the same sites are sampled each year. Individual site locations are not listed to respect the privacy of the individuals involved, as this is a voluntary program for all participants. Public buildings (e.g., schools and seniors’ housing) are identified. The non-public building sites are listed as letter/number combinations (e.g. A1, AA, FFF, etc.) The designations remain consistent for each site from year to year.
The dataset also includes chemistry analyses for the sites. Additional water samples were collected at the same time as the pesticide sampling, which were then analyzed at the PEI Analytical Laboratory for various chemistry parameters. Users should note that the parameters analysed and the lab detection limits for these chemistry samples/results may vary from year to year. Chemistry sampling ceased after the 2013 sampling year.
Results with a "
Safe Drinking Water Limits (Pesticides)
The pesticide data also includes a safe drinking water limit (if one is available). The four sources of safe drinking water limits are listed below:
Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guideline Value
Health Canada Guidance Value
USEPA Pesticide Tolerance Level
Guidance value not available, Health Canada has indicated detected levels are below levels of concern
Only compounds that have been detected through the monitoring program or which have a Canadian Drinking Water Guideline Value have a safe drinking water limit value listed.
Some of the guideline values have been converted from the published units of ug/L to ng/ml in order to compare the guideline values to the results.
Health Canada provides The Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality (link is external).
Chemistry Samples
The chemistry results were compiled from three different databases, and may utilize different parameters and units/limits:
results previous to 2009
results between 2010 and 2012
results after June 2012
