From "Source to Tap"... a multi-barrier approach to protecting drinking water

Do you ever think about how your drinking water gets from the lake, river, stream or underground aquifer all the way to the taps in your house? The place where the water originates is called the source. The most effective way to manage drinking water to make sure it is safe for consumption when it gets to your house is to protect it all the way from "source to tap".

Implementing drinking water protection from "source to tap" is called the multi-barrier approach. The multiple barriers are put in place to stop contamination along the drinking water delivery system.

The multi-barrier approach looks at all of the components of a drinking water system and identifies safeguards needed to provide safe drinking water. The components include source water protection, drinking water treatment, and distribution systems. The safeguards include management, monitoring, research, science and technology development, guidelines, standards and objectives, legislative and policy frameworks, and public involvement and awareness.

The multi-barrier approach is an integrated system that prevents or reduces the contamination of drinking water, from source to tap, in order to reduce risks to public health.

See also: Source to Tap – Protecting our Water Quality
(Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment) 

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