Free water testing clinics set up in P.E.I. are showing much lower levels of nitrates in drinking water than suggested by a study released in the spring.

The joint federal-provincial study suggested as many as one in five wells in some parts of P.E.I. could have levels of nitrates above Health Canada guidelines, and said the nitrates were coming from fertilizers spread on farm fields. The study prompted the appointment of a nitrates commission to look into the problem, and the government set up free clinics to test drinking water for nitrates.

Those clinics are finding much lower levels of nitrates than the study did.

"Two-point-eight per cent [of samples] were above general levels put out by Health Canada. Twenty-one per cent were actually below 1.0 milligrams per litre, so that's very low," nitrate clinic co-ordinator David Clark said.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2007/11/30/nitrates-...