Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Fluoride

Water Quality

Table 1.1 Summary Table of Recommended Criteria for Fluoride

WATER USE	CRITERIA
Raw Drinking Water	1.0 as a 30-day mean 1.5 as a maximum
Aquatic Life - Fresh* Aquatic Life - Marine	0.2 as a maximum where the water hardness is 50 mg/L 0.3 as a maximum where water hardness > 50 mg/L 1.5 as a maximum
Wildlife	1.0 as a 30-day mean 1.5 as a maximum
Dairy cows, breeding stock and other long-lived animals All other livestock on a normal diet Livestock receiving high fluoride mineral or bone meal feed additives	1.0 as a 30-day average 1.5 as a maximum 2.0 as a 30-day average 4.0 as a maximum 1.0 as a 30-day average 2.0 as a maximum
Irrigation for all soils	1.0 as a 30-day average
Recreation	none set
Industrial uses such as beer, beverage and processed food manufacture and packaging	1.0 as a 30-day mean 1.5 as a maximum

Table values are in mg/L of total fluoride.
*This is an interim criterion until carefully controlled experiments can determine the appropriate levels of fluoride under various combinations of water temperature and hardness. The Okanagan Valley is the only area of BC where background levels generally exceed 0.2 and even there the background levels do not generally exceed 0.3. Water hardness is measured as CaCO₃.