Approval to operate

Our Regulators

Environment and Protected Areas, under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA), is responsible for regulating drinking water systems in Alberta that treat raw river or groundwater and distribute to customers. We follow strict regulations to ensure monitoring and water quality provisions are in place at all of our water treatment facilities.

Under the EPEA, EPCOR is required to apply for renewal of our existing approval every 10 years, or whenever we make substantial operational changes to our waterworks system. Renewing our approval to operate is an important part of our commitment to excellence. The renewal process helps to ensure our testing parameters continue to be at the highest level and it allows us to continue engaging stakeholders in a meaningful way to discuss how we operate our water system.

More about Environment and Protected Areas

As our regulator, Environment and Protected Areas oversees EPCOR's treatment processes and ensures that we are working effectively to provide safe, reliable drinking water to the customers we serve. A team of environment and drinking water experts at the Province manages this portfolio.

While Environment and Protected Areas is our environmental regulator​, we also regularly review environmental requirements along with operational requirements and performance targets with the City of Edmonton as our utility regulator including key measures such as water quality, reliability and customer service. Through this performance-based regulation, EPCOR is expected to meet high performance standards and report regularly on how we are performing.

Edmonton Waterworks System

In the Edmonton waterworks system, raw water is drawn from the North Saskatchewan River. It is then treated at the Rossdale (9469 Rossdale Road) and E.L. Smith (3900 E.L. Smith Road) water treatment plants in Edmonton.

Our drinking water meets or exceeds all of the requirements set by provincial standards and Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. EPCOR's water quality assurance laboratory tests and adjusts for hundreds of parameters so that we can provide you with the best drinking water for safety, colour, smell and taste.

The two water treatment plants' onsite reservoirs and high lift pump stations supply potable water into Edmonton's transmission system's piping network primary zone.

The high lift pump stations are supported by:

•  12 reservoir and pump station sites;
• Eight booster stations which supply a network of transmission and distribution pipes into the entire Edmonton area; and,
• Eight supply points to regional water customers in the surrounding communities.

Related content:

• Rossdale Water Treatment Plant
• E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant

Questions?

Your questions are important to us.

Contact EPCOR

Phone: 780-412-3599