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Tap water

Water hardnessIs tap water safe?Water quality reportGTA hardness by city

Softeners & filters

Need a softener?Softener costHow softeners workSoftener vs filterWhole-house filtersReverse osmosis

Lead & old pipes

Lead pipesLead pipe replacementKitec plumbingKitec replacement costPoly and galvanized

Basement flooding

Flooding subsidyBackwater valvesBackwater valve costSump pump costBattery backup pumpsSewer backup insuranceWeeping tile costWaterproofing costDownspout rules

Winter & emergencies

Frozen pipesPrevent frozen pipesWater main breaksShut off your waterLow water pressure

Water heaters

Rental buyoutsTankless heater cost

Costs & permits

Plumber costPlumbing permits

Accessibility

The Toronto Home Water Guide aims to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA, so every guide can be read on any device and with assistive technology.

Our approach

Plain information about water and plumbing should be easy for everyone to use, including people who use screen readers, keyboard navigation, magnification or a phone in a dark basement. The site aims to meet WCAG 2.1 level AA, a widely used international standard for web accessibility.

What we do

  • Plain structure. Each page has one main heading, question-style section headings in order, and a "Skip to content" link at the top.
  • Readable text and colour. Text colours were checked against their backgrounds for contrast of at least 4.5 to 1, and links and controls show a visible outline when they have keyboard focus.
  • Images. Every photo, drawing and infographic has a text description. Infographics repeat their labels and numbers in the description, and the same figures appear in the page text.
  • Works without scripts. Pages are plain HTML and CSS with no required JavaScript. The menu and the question lists open with standard HTML controls that work with a keyboard.
  • Videos. Where a guide shows a video, it is an optional extra: the page text covers the same points. The player has a text label, a caption naming the video and its channel, and a play button that works with a keyboard. Captions and the transcript come from YouTube and depend on the channel that published the video.
  • Phone first. Layouts are built for small screens first and reflow when text is enlarged. Animation is limited, and the site respects a device's reduced-motion setting.
  • Language. Pages declare Canadian English, use plain wording, and spell out units, such as mg/L and °C, with the figure.

Known limits

Some linked sources, such as City of Toronto PDF reports and maker manuals, are outside this site's control and may not meet the same standard; the guides summarize their key figures in the page text. Tables of figures can be wide on small screens and may need sideways scrolling. If any part of the site is hard to use, the page's content is also available as plain text in your browser's reader view. Last reviewed October 2026.

More help: see our Toronto Home Water Guide home page.