Chambly Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Chambly's drinking water is managed by Ville de Chambly, a historic Montérégie community south-east of Longueuil on the western bank of the Richelieu River — site of the iconic Fort Chambly National Historic Site, one of Canada's best-preserved 18th-century French colonial fortifications. Supply draws from the Richelieu River, which flows north from Lake Champlain (on the Vermont–Quebec border) through the Chambly Basin to the St. Lawrence. Water undergoes coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, UV disinfection, and chloramination, meeting all Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality (GCDWQ) requirements. Hardness measures 90 mg/L (5.3 gpg) — classified as moderately hard by Health Canada.

The Richelieu River at Chambly carries water from the Lake Champlain basin — draining the Adirondack Mountains (New York) and Green Mountains (Vermont) through the Champlain Valley Ordovician and Cambrian limestone and dolostone lowlands. The 90 mg/L reflects this mixed geology: moderately soluble Champlain Lowlands carbonate contributes dissolved calcium but is diluted by the considerable volume of soft Adirondack and Green Mountain granite and gneiss runoff that also enters Lake Champlain, producing the moderate 90 mg/L supply at Chambly.

At 90 mg/L, Chambly residents experience moderate scale deposits — cleaning every two months is adequate. Hot water tanks operate reliably. Ville de Chambly publishes annual water quality reports following Ministère de l'Environnement standards. Health Canada lead precautionary guidance applies to residents in the community's heritage properties near the Fort Chambly historic district, where pre-1945 plumbing infrastructure may still be present.