Demand for water filters gushing

Baffled and embittered Montrealers blundered yesterday among store aisles lined with water filters, trying to figure out their options.

"I'm here because I'm scared about the water," Cote St. Luc resident Argentina Kelen said as she shopped for filters at the Reno-Depot store in Notre Dame de Grace.

"And I drink bottled water."

Kelen is scared because the city sent her and the residents of 75,000 houses and buildings across Montreal Island letters advising them their drinking water might contain slightly more lead than called for by provincial standards.

Lead pipes leading to their homes are to blame.

While municipal officials and health experts stress there's no reason to fear, recommendations that pregnant women and children under 6 years old should drink filtered water have sent a worrisome message.

from the Montreal Gazette