Water consumption habits of a south-western Ontario community

A cross-sectional telephone survey (n = 2,332) was performed to better understand the drinking water consumption patterns among residents in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. We investigated the daily volume of water consumed (including tap and bottled) and factors related to that consumption. In addition, we investigated the daily volume of cold tap water consumed by those respondents who consumed no bottled water and the factors that influence this consumption. Among study respondents, 51% exclusively drank tap water, 34% exclusively drank bottled water and 14.5% drank both, with 10 to 75% of all cold water consumed in the previous day being bottled. The mean volume of water consumed in a day (including bottled and tap water) was 1.39 l. Among those who reported to exclusively consume tap water, the mean daily volume of tap water consumed was 1.45 l. The daily amount of cold water consumed in a day was lower for older respondents, more markedly for men than women. More educated respondents consumed more water during the day. Roughly 45% of households reported that they used a carbon filter to treat their water. Roughly 5% of respondents used advanced home treatment devices, including ultraviolet light, reverse osmosis, ozonation or distillation.