Twenty-five drinking water samples collected from the household property and from the Sydney Regional Municipality well bores and lakes were analyzed to evaluate the various inorganic parameters, level of concentrations of the priority elements and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The pH of the majority of the water samples was below the guidelines adopted by Health and Welfare Canada (1996), although the drinking waters supplied by the Sydney Regional Municipality were within the guidelines. Only three water samples (13 and 14: Point Aconi area and 16. Port Morien fish plant) have elevated concentrations of various PAHs compared to the detection limit. Eight samples have higher concentrations of manganese and two samples (number 7. Sydney Airport and number 1: RCMP Office; Reserve Mines) have higher concentrations of priority elements (especially lead) than the recommended guidelines (> 0.05 mg/l). These priority elements and the PAHs in the drinking water samples may have originated from the leaching of the individual coal seams within that part of the Sydney Basin. Other potential sources of these elements and PAHs (Power Plant disposal, Sydney Tar Pond, metalliferous rocks, hydrocarbon reservoir rocks) are not located close enough to the sampling sites of the water samples. Therefore, they are not considered the source of these elements and PAHs. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.