Despite having access to a municipal water supply, Statistics Canada has estimated that almost one in five Toronto area households drank primarily bottled water in 2015.

The survey results, which were included in a data report focused on the environment released last week, show bottled water was the main source of drinking water for close to 20 per cent of GTA homes between 2009 and 2015, after dropping down from 34 per cent in 2007.

Between 2009 and 2015 the number of homes drinking mostly bottled water varied from a low of 18 per cent in 2015 to a high of 22 in 2013.

Meanwhile, just eight per cent of households in the Ottawa area and 36 per cent in the Windsor area were estimated to rely primarily on bottled water in 2015. Though, Statistics Canada notes that the estimates for both Ottawa and Windsor are less exact than the estimates provided for Toronto.

Water advocate Maude Barlow said she finds the statistics “disturbing” but not surprising.

“People have bought into the myth, largely promoted by the bottled water industry that our tap water isn’t safe,” said Barlow, who is also the honourary chairperson for the Council of Canadians.

With a few exceptions, tap water in Canada is “very safe,” she said.

While that does include tap water in Toronto, at least 31,000 homes in the city still have lead water pipes, which can contaminate clean drinking water flowing from the city’s water treatment facilities before it reaches the tap.

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