Asbestos Free Water was founded by Rana Bokhari, a Human Rights lawyer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 2022, Rana wrote to the Federal Minister of Infrastructure — copied to the Prime Minister of Canada — drawing attention to 721 kilometres of asbestos cement pipes beneath Winnipeg's streets and demanding action.
When W5 independently tested Winnipeg's tap water and found approximately 60,000 asbestos fibres per litre, Rana founded Asbestos Free Water. She mapped every asbestos cement pipe beneath the city. She built a free public resource. She responded to Health Canada's consultation on behalf of Winnipeg and all Canadians. She submitted simultaneously to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Safe Drinking Water.
This is not a fringe issue. Asbestos is a Group 1 carcinogen — the highest classification of the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It is banned in Canada. Yet the pipes carrying it into Canadian homes are still there, still crumbling, and the water they contaminate remains unregulated.
Canadians deserve to know. We are going to tell them — until somebody does something about it.