Drinking Water Quality and Supply

From source to sink

Where Sainte-Marie water comes from

A plain-language tour of the lakes, rivers, or wells that feed Sainte-Marie, the plants that clean the water, and how it reaches kitchen taps. Lab grades for hardness, lead, and pH live on the water quality page.

On the map

Where Sainte-Marie water lives

Source waters and treatment plants pinned from published utility names. Open a pin below for the full OpenStreetMap view.

Map showing drinking-water locations for Sainte-Marie

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins are approximate for orientation, not legal survey points.

Deep dive for households

Sainte-Marie drinking water starts as surface water (rivers, lakes, or reservoirs). The named source on the utility record is Rivière Chaudière (permanent intake; two submerged screens ~2.4 m depth at 1065 rue Notre-Dame Sud). That is the water that eventually reaches kitchen taps after treatment, not a separate bottled brand.

Water is cleaned at Installation de production Sainte-Marie (X2134730) before it enters city pipes. City vulnerability report (2026): screening, coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, ozonation, UV reactors, then chlorine gas disinfection and caustic soda pH adjustment. Feeds Saint-Joseph and Bisson reservoirs. MELCC lists chlorination, filtration, ozonation, and ultraviolet.

After treatment, water moves through pumps, storage, and underground mains to reach streets and buildings. Serves ~13,500 people. Intake ~4 km south of the urban perimeter in an agricultural reach; booster station and dual reservoirs on the distribution side. City publishes annual quality bilans and Chaudière level monitoring.

One detail that makes Sainte-Marie water feel local: Sainte-Marie’s Chaudière intake sits in the flood-prone Moyenne-Chaudière corridor,the same river corridor that forced neighbouring towns onto alternate sources after Lac-Mégantic. Lab grades for hardness, lead, and pH sit on the city water quality page; this overview is about the route the water travels.

Where it starts

Surface water

Rivers, lakes, or reservoirs, not underground wells as the main draw.

Research confidence: high

Named source waters

  • Rivière Chaudière (permanent intake; two submerged screens ~2.4 m depth at 1065 rue Notre-Dame Sud)

Treatment plants

These are the buildings that filter and disinfect water before it enters city pipes.

  • Installation de production Sainte-Marie (X2134730)

    City vulnerability report (2026): screening, coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, ozonation, UV reactors, then chlorine gas disinfection and caustic soda pH adjustment. Feeds Saint-Joseph and Bisson reservoirs. MELCC lists chlorination, filtration, ozonation, and ultraviolet.

How it reaches your street

Serves ~13,500 people. Intake ~4 km south of the urban perimeter in an agricultural reach; booster station and dual reservoirs on the distribution side. City publishes annual quality bilans and Chaudière level monitoring.

Sainte-Marie water quality grades · All city rankings

Source · ECCC / municipal open data (seed). Last updated 2026-07-22. Refreshed on the site's automated schedule.