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Document ID ca-gcdwqgtd-2009-06-01-6 Title Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality: Guideline Technical Document – Benzene URL https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/guidelines-canadian-drinking-water-quality-guideline-technical-document-benzene/page-8-guidelines-canadian-drinking-water-quality-guideline-technical-document-benzene.html Jurisdiction /ca Subdomain(s) Drinking water, Water treatment Language en Status completed Analyzed at 2026-03-17 16:07:06.293565+00:00 Relevance Technical guidance on treatment technologies for benzene in drinking water.

8 Qualitative 42 Quantitative 0 Definitions

Q Qualitative Requirements (8)

Req ID	Category	Intent	Legal Status	Name	Subdomain(s)	Context	Conditions	Confidence
#Q001	design	treatment	recommended	Consideration of factors for treatment selection	drinking water	These factors should be taken into consideration to ensure that the treatment process selected is effective for the reduction of benzene in drinking water.	The selection of an appropriate treatment process for a specific water supply will depend on many factors, including the characteristics of the raw water supply and the operational conditions of the specific treatment method.	high
#Q002	treatment	treatment	guidance	Treatment of stripping tower off-gas	drinking water	As PTA transfers VOCs from water to air, treatment of the stripping tower off-gas to reduce the contaminant concentrations prior to discharge may be necessary (Crittenden et al., 1988; Adams and Clark, 1991).	When using packed tower aeration (PTA) for the reduction of VOCs in drinking water	high
#Q003	design	treatment	recommended	Consideration of by-product formation during oxidation	drinking water	The formation of by-products during the application of ozonation or AOPs for the treatment of benzene in drinking water should be considered in the process selection, optimization, and post-treatment monitoring.	During the application of ozonation or AOPs for the treatment of benzene in drinking water	high
#Q004	monitoring	health	recommended	Testing of residential treatment devices	drinking water	Periodic testing by an accredited laboratory should be conducted on both the water entering the treatment device and the water it produces to verify that the treatment device is effective.	When using residential drinking water treatment devices	high
#Q005	treatment	operational	mandatory	Maintenance of residential treatment devices	drinking water	Devices can lose removal capacity through usage and time and need to be maintained and/or replaced.	When using residential drinking water treatment devices	high
#Q006	operational	operational	recommended	Verification of treatment device component longevity	drinking water	Consumers should verify the expected longevity of the components in their treatment device as per the manufacturer's recommendations.	When using residential drinking water treatment devices	high
#Q007	design	health	recommended	Use of certified drinking water treatment devices	drinking water	Health Canada does not recommend specific brands of drinking water treatment devices, but it strongly recommends that consumers use devices that have been certified by an accredited certification body as meeting the appropriate NSF International (NSF)/American National Standards Institute (ANSI) drinking water treatment unit standards.	When consumers choose to use residential drinking water treatment devices	high
#Q008	administrative	operational	mandatory	Accreditation of certification organizations	drinking water	Certification organizations provide assurance that a product conforms to applicable standards and must be accredited by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC).	For organizations certifying drinking water devices and materials in Canada	high

P Quantitative Requirements (42)

Req ID	Category	Intent	Legal Status	Name	Subdomain(s)	Limit Type	Limit Value	Context	Conditions	Confidence
#P001	chemical	treatment	mandatory	benzene	drinking water	requirement	> 99 %	For a drinking water treatment device to be certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 53 for the removal of VOCs	from an influent (challenge) concentration of 0.081 mg/L	high
#P002	chemical	treatment	mandatory	benzene influent (challenge) concentration	drinking water	requirement	0.081 mg/L	Influent requirement for certification to NSF/ANSI Standard 53		high
#P003	chemical	treatment	mandatory	benzene maximum final (effluent) concentration	drinking water	requirement	< 0.001 mg/L	For a drinking water treatment device to be certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 53 for the removal of VOCs		high
#P004	chemical	treatment	mandatory	VOCs final concentration	drinking water	requirement	< 0.001 mg/L	Reverse osmosis systems certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 58 for the reduction of VOCs		high
#P005	chemical	treatment	guidance	Benzene effluent concentration (Municipal)	drinking water	treatment_goal	< 1 µg/L	Municipal treatment methods such as GAC adsorption and air stripping are capable of achieving these levels.	Municipal scale treatment	high
#P006	chemical	treatment	guidance	Benzene removal efficiency (Municipal)	drinking water	treatment_goal	99 %	Feasible removal efficiency for GAC adsorption and packed tower aeration in municipal systems.	Municipal scale treatment	high
#P007	operational	treatment	guidance	Ozone dosage (81% degradation)	drinking water	OG	6 mg/L	Pilot-scale treatment tests achieving 81% degradation of benzene in distilled water.	From approximately 50 µg/L to 10 µg/L	high
#P008	operational	treatment	guidance	Ozone dosage (94% reduction)	drinking water	OG	12 mg/L	Ozone dose achieving 94% reduction in distilled water and groundwater matrices.	Wide range of pH	high
#P009	operational	treatment	guidance	PAC dosage	drinking water	OG	60 mg/L	Pilot-scale studies using a combined jet flocculation/PAC system.	Reducing benzene from 100 to 5 µg/L	high
#P010	design	treatment	guidance	PTA air-to-water ratio	drinking water	requirement	32.7 ratio	Typical full-scale plant design parameters for reduction of benzene.	Flow rate > 8 ML/day	high
#P011	design	treatment	guidance	PTA air stripper length	drinking water	requirement	11.05 m	Typical full-scale plant design parameters for reduction of benzene.	Flow rate > 8 ML/day	high
#P012	chemical	treatment	guidance	Reverse osmosis removal efficiency	drinking water	treatment_goal	94 %	Pilot plant investigations for benzene removal from drinking water.	Influent concentration of 1000 µg/L	high
#P013	operational	treatment	guidance	GAC Empty Bed Contact Time (EBCT)	drinking water	OG	23.7 minutes	Operating conditions of the GAC filter adsorber demonstrated in full-scale studies.	Influent benzene 10 µg/L to < 0.1 µg/L	high
#P014	operational	treatment	guidance	Carbon use rate	drinking water	OG	0.013 kg/m3	Estimated carbon use rate for benzene reduction using GAC.	To reduce influent 100 µg/L to effluent 5 µg/L with EBCT of 15 minutes	high
#P015	design	treatment	guidance	PTA packed column diameter	drinking water	requirement	2.55 m	Typical full-scale plant design parameters for the reduction of benzene from drinking water.	Flow rate > 8 ML/day	high
#P016	design	treatment	guidance	PTA packing depth	drinking water	requirement	12.95 m	Modeling to determine cost-effective design criteria for PTA contactors.	Achieving 99% reduction to effluent 1 µg/L	high
#P017	operational	treatment	guidance	Ozone dosage (low range)	drinking water	OG	0.8-1.5 mg/L	Pilot studies observing degradation of benzene with specific ozone doses.		high
#P018	operational	treatment	guidance	Hydrogen peroxide dose (photocatalytic)	drinking water	OG	70 mg/L	Pilot-scale photocatalytic oxidation system utilized for reducing influent benzene.	Combined with UV light and 0.4 mg/L ozone	high
#P019	operational	treatment	guidance	Ozone dose (photocatalytic)	drinking water	OG	0.4 mg/L	Pilot-scale photocatalytic oxidation system combined with UV and hydrogen peroxide.	Reducing influent 123 µg/L to below 0.5 µg/L	high
#P020	chemical	treatment	guidance	Effluent benzene concentration (photocatalytic)	drinking water	treatment_goal	< 0.5 µg/L	Performance of pilot-scale photocatalytic oxidation system.	Influent concentration of 123 µg/L	high
#P021	chemical	treatment	guidance	Coagulation and filtration benzene reduction	drinking water	requirement	0 to 29 %	Reported reductions for municipal plants relying on conventional treatment.	May be partially attributed to incidental volatilization	high
#P022	design	treatment	guidance	GAC bed volume	drinking water	OG	23.8 m3	Operating conditions of the GAC filter adsorber from full-scale studies.	Full-scale studies of fixed-bed GAC adsorbers	high
#P023	design	treatment	guidance	GAC flow rate (full-scale)	drinking water	OG	1.5 ML/day	Operating conditions of the GAC filter adsorber from full-scale studies.		high
#P024	design	treatment	guidance	GAC flow rate (parallel adsorbers)	drinking water	OG	5 ML/day	Three GAC adsorbers operating in parallel.	Reducing benzene 20 µg/L to 0.2 µg/L	high
#P025	design	treatment	guidance	GAC bed life (parallel adsorbers)	drinking water	OG	12 months	Three GAC adsorbers operating in parallel.		high
#P026	design	treatment	guidance	GAC bed life (model)	drinking water	OG	389 days	Estimated GAC performance using model predictions.	To reduce 100 µg/L to 5 µg/L	high
#P027	operational	treatment	guidance	Silica clay dosage	drinking water	OG	100 mg/L	Combined jet flocculation/PAC system for benzene removal.	Pilot-scale studies	high
#P028	operational	treatment	guidance	PAC contact time	drinking water	OG	2-8 minutes	Combined jet flocculation/PAC system for benzene removal.	Pilot-scale studies	high
#P029	design	treatment	guidance	PTA air-to-water ratio (Allan)	drinking water	requirement	75 ratio	Countercurrentflow PTA for reducing benzene.	Full-scale plant data reducing 30 µg/L to 1.5 µg/L	high
#P030	design	treatment	guidance	PTA air stripper length (Allan)	drinking water	requirement	5.50 m	Countercurrentflow PTA for reducing benzene.		high
#P031	design	treatment	guidance	PTA column diameter (Allan)	drinking water	requirement	1.52 m	Countercurrentflow PTA for reducing benzene.		high
#P032	design	treatment	guidance	PTA air-to-water ratio (AWWA)	drinking water	requirement	100 ratio	Full-scale PTA performance.	Reducing 200 µg/L to less than 2 µg/L	high
#P033	design	treatment	guidance	PTA air stripper length (AWWA)	drinking water	requirement	10.05 m	Full-scale PTA performance.		high
#P034	design	treatment	guidance	PTA column diameter (AWWA)	drinking water	requirement	3.05 m	Full-scale PTA performance.		high
#P035	chemical	treatment	guidance	PTA benzene removal efficiency (Pilot)	drinking water	treatment_goal	77 to over 99 %	Pilot plant studies for reduction of VOCs in groundwater.		high
#P036	chemical	treatment	guidance	RO benzene removal (alternative membranes)	drinking water	treatment_goal	< 20 %	Studies evaluating cellulose, polyamide, and thin film composite membranes.		high
#P037	operational	treatment	guidance	GAC EBCT (parallel adsorbers)	drinking water	OG	21 minutes	Operating conditions for three GAC adsorbers operating in parallel.	Reducing benzene concentrations of 20 µg/L to 0.2 µg/L	high
#P038	operational	treatment	guidance	GAC EBCT (model prediction)	drinking water	OG	15 minutes	Model predictions for full-scale GAC performance.	To reduce influent 100 µg/L to effluent 5 µg/L	high
#P039	design	treatment	guidance	PTA air-to-water ratio (Adams and Clark)	drinking water	requirement	40 ratio	Modeling to determine cost-effective design criteria for PTA contactors.	Associated with packing depth of 12.95 m to achieve 99% reduction	high
#P040	chemical	treatment	guidance	UV/titanium dioxide oxidation removal efficiency	drinking water	treatment_goal	> 99 %	Pilot study performance of UV/titanium dioxide oxidation process.		high
#P041	chemical	treatment	guidance	Reverse osmosis influent concentration	drinking water	treatment_goal	1000 µg/L	Influent levels used in pilot plant investigations demonstrating 94% removal.	Pilot plant investigations	high
#P042	operational	treatment	guidance	PTA cost evaluation system size range	drinking water	OG	1 to 100 ML/day	Range of system sizes evaluated in PTA/GAC cost comparisons.		high

D Definitions (0)

No definitions.