Our Mission

We will educate the leaders of today and tomorrow about drinking water quality issues to realize our goal of safe drinking water being available to every Canadian.

OUR PROGRAMS

Operation Water Drop, Operation Water Pollution, and Operation Water Biology kits enable students to conduct authentic water quality analyses on their own local drinking water and other water samples. Students then compare their results to Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. Additionally, students are supported and encouraged in taking action in order to share information with others and to alleviate drinking water quality issues.

Our Operation Water Flow, Operation Water Health, Operation Community Water Footprint and Operation Water Spirit programs are all available free of charge on this website.


Water Fact of the Week (Week of february 12, 2024)

The major source of freshwater is evaporation off the surface of the oceans; approximately 434,000 km3/year. Learn and teach about many multi-disciplinary aspects related to water by using our Operation Water Flow educational program in your classroom.


HELP Canadian students LEARN ABOUT DRINKING WATER QUALITY ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS - SPONSOR KITS FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE WAITING

Many Canadian schools are on the waiting list for sponsored kits. Please click on the map to discover if schools in your area, the school your children attend, or the school from which you graduated is waiting for a sponsored kit. Please donate a kit to a school today! As little as $85 can educate 30 students about drinking water quality issues and solutions in a hands-on manner.

Please remember the name of the school to which you would like to donate the kit, order one or more kits for the school, and type the name of the school in the box that pops up when you add the kit(s) to your cart. Also, please note that the shipping address you need to enter is your own mailing address so that we can send you an official donation receipt for income tax purposes.


Take a look at the map above and ORDER OR donate a kit: 


Order Environmental Education Kits


Update Regarding COVID-19

We have created a list of tips to help online and in-person teachers to safely use our water testing kits in their classrooms in light of COVID-19.

We have also made the difficult decision to postpone our Student Action Competition until such a time that students interacting with community members and holding community events would be safe.

Safe Drinking Water Foundation keeps those affected by the virus in our hearts.


we worked on this project with South Saskatchewan River Watershed Stewards Inc. and Dr. Markus Brinkmann from the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan.

Sampling for Possible Microplastic Occurrences in the South Saskatchewan River Watershed

To date, there have been no studies on microplastics in the South Saskatchewan River watershed. The South Saskatchewan River Watershed Stewards Inc. (SSRWSI) received funding through the City of Saskatoon and the Fish and Wildlife Development Fund to determine the presence or absence of microplastics in the water source, as well as their type(s) and quantities.

Collaborating on this project are Dr. Markus Brinkmann, Assistant Professor at the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan, and the Safe Drinking Water Foundation (SDWF). Dr. Brinkmann, one of his students and the SSRWSI technician are undertaking the fieldwork and SDWF will be supplying additional communications and educational materials.

A plankton net will be used to sample the water column at several sample sites along the South Saskatchewan River within Saskatchewan (see Picture 1 below), including three sites within the City of Saskatoon and at Beaver Creek. Sites funded by the City of Saskatoon will be sampled monthly May through August while sites along the river funded by the Fish and Wildlife Development Fund will be sampled in May and possibly also in June.

On May 20, 2020, the first sampling occurred in Saskatoon at the Northeast Swale, Aspen Ridge Forebay, Evergreen Stormwater Pond (see Picture 2 below), and Beaver Creek. Thank you to the Meewasin Valley Authority for helping with access at several sites. The following day, samples were taken upstream and downstream of Outlook (see Picture 3 below) and at the Fred Heal Canoe Launch near Saskatoon. On May 28, 2020 and May 29, 2020, the first month of sampling was completed with sampling upstream and downstream of Cabri, at the Clarkboro Ferry Crossing, and downstream of St. Louis.

This project will provide baseline data on microplastics in the South Saskatchewan River watershed, which will help inform future work and projects.

Picture 1: Filtering water through a plankton net

Picture 1: Filtering water through a plankton net

Picture 2: Sampling the Evergreen Stormwater Pond

Picture 2: Sampling the Evergreen Stormwater Pond

Picture 3: Sampling at Outlook Regional Park

Picture 3: Sampling at Outlook Regional Park


The operation water drop test results submission website

Do you have a code to enter your students' Operation Water Drop results? Have you used an Operation Water Drop kit in your classroom but forget your code? Do you want to see the results which have been entered?


Student Action on Saskatoon Water Attitudes Competition

During the 2016-2017 school year we will be holding a Student Action on Saskatoon Water Attitudes Competition. The competition is intended for K-12 schools in Saskatoon, but other schools can also participate in the webinars and complete projects. The winning school will receive a water bottle filling station. Saskatoon schools which register to compete will receive sponsored Operation Water Drop kits.


the sdwf has developed problem-based learning sets for operation water drop, operation water pollution, operation water biology, operation water health, and operation water flow

These sets are comprised of inquiry learning activities for the students. The teacher takes on the role of a facilitator of learning and lets the students teach themselves through research and critical thinking.


Thank you to our sponsors:

A big thank you to all of our anonymous and individual donors as well.

We are a 1% for the Planet Environmental Partner and we thank the 1% for the Planet companies that support us.


Learn more about effective water treatment solutions

Visit Safe Drinking Water Team's website

Visit Safe Drinking Water Team's website


We are a Digital Human Library expert! 

We deliver programs for connected north!

Number of Sessions Provided for Connected North