Ecojustice continued its long-standing leadership in safe water issues with the 2006 release of Waterproof II, our second national drinking water report card.

Waterproof II was the highly anticipated follow-up to our original drinking water report card released shortly after the tragedy in Walkerton, Ont. It highlights improvements to drinking water laws and policies in most jurisdictions across the country but slams the federal government for its failure to enact national, legally-binding water standards that ensure safe drinking water for all Canadians.

Ontario implemented many of the recommendations from the exhaustive inquiry into the Walkerton tragedy, and finds itself at the top of the class with an A-. All other jurisdictions — except New Brunswick — made modest improvements in protecting their drinking water and saw their grades improve.

The federal government received the only failing grade in the report, getting an ‘F’ for failure to enact binding national standards for drinking water, failure to ensure safe drinking water for First Nations, failure to properly regulate bottled water, and permitting the use of toxic chemicals that are banned in the U.S. and Europe but enter Canadian drinking water.

Ecojustice continues to advocate for strong, legally-binding drinking water standards for all Canadians. Waterproof III will be released in October 2011.