Edmonton’s water comes from the North Saskatchewan River, treated at the Rossdale and E.L. Smith plants. It’s safe, well-regulated drinking water — and it’s also hard, chlorinated and seasonally variable.
Total hardness typically tests between 165 and 200 mg/L, which is where scale damage to tanks and appliances begins. Disinfection leaves a chlorine taste and smell many households notice most in the shower.
City water treatment is straightforward once it’s measured: filtration for chlorine and sediment, softening for hardness, reverse osmosis for drinking water. What varies is sizing, and that’s what a water test settles.