Warning regarding suspect door-to-door water treatment sales

The City of Brantford is cautioning residents about questionable tactics involving door-to-door sales of water purifying systems. The City reassures residents that the water supplied by the City meets or exceeds strict provincial standards and is safe to drink.

The City of Brantford has recently become aware of residents being approached by door-to-door water treatment system salespeople using a ‘precipitator’ or ‘jam jar purity test’ to supposedly prove that all water, except the water produced by their purification equipment, is impure and unsafe for human consumption.

The water ‘test’ conducted in a resident’s home by a salesperson frequently results in a dark coloured substance forming in the City’s water. Residents must be assured that this is a normal effect when passing an electric current or adding a specific chemical through a sample of water containing minerals. A typical at-home treatment system (the system they are trying to sell) will produce water with lower levels of these minerals and will therefore not show a precipitate during this demonstration - thus no dark coloured substance will appear. The City emphasizes that minerals are essential to maintaining a normal health standard such as calcium and magnesium.

Residents who feel they have been treated unfairly or are victims of fraud are encouraged to contact the Ministry of Consumer Services.

Residents concerned about the safety of their water are asked to contact the City’s Customer Services Department at 519-756-1360. The City of Brantford publishes annual drinking water quality reports and makes these frequent updates available online.