TORONTO - The Environment Ministry will order 35 towns and cities across Ontario, including Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa, to test older homes for possible lead contamination in drinking water, chief water inspector Jim Smith announced Tuesday.

Smith said nearly a month has passed since he wrote to every municipality in Ontario suggesting they test lead levels at taps in homes that may have lead service pipes or lead solder in their connections after unacceptably high levels were found in the City of London.

So far, only Sarnia has reported back after finding two of 14 homes tested had lead levels in tap water above provincial standards, although there are also reports of problems in Owen Sound and Hamilton.

"I've determined that I should send out orders to a number of municipalities' drinking water systems so I get the information quicker than what I'm seeing happen across the province,'' Smith said in an interview.

"It's about getting information and the facts. The London situation we found was very unusual. We don't have the full information yet on Sarnia, so I do think it's speculative to say how widespread could this problem be.''

Smith estimated it would take about one week for the communities to each find 20 homes to be tested for lead in tap water, and perhaps another week for the lab results to come in and get reported back to the government.

He said the data would give the ministry a good snapshot of the situation across the province, and is the fastest way to help ease public concerns about drinking water.

"I don't want a lot of time to go by where communities and individuals concerned about this are wondering, `Well, what about my community? When will these test results be in?''' Smith said.

"I do think this is the best way to move forward.''

The opposition parties said Tuesday the Liberal government has been too slow to follow up on the issue of lead in drinking water, especially after it was raised by Justice Dennis O'Connor in his report into Walkerton's tainted-water tragedy of May 2000.

"Justice O'Connor was pretty clear that we should be replacing those lead services,'' said NDP environment critic Peter Tabuns. "We should have been testing at the tap earlier.

"It doesn't seem to be an issue that's engendered a sense of urgency on the part of the Ministry of the Environment.''

Conservative Leader John Tory said O'Connor's recommendations have not been acted on quickly enough.

"People think under the new regime, post-Walkerton, that they can count on having safe water, that every step has been taken,'' Tory said.

"Yet that last step, from the curb to their tap, is not being adequately addressed, and the lead that they're finding in certain communities is proof positive of that.''

There was no public notification when Smith issued his recommendation April 27 to municipalities to test water from household taps after the City of London found unsafe lead levels in drinking water in about 25 per cent of older homes tested.

"You should also consider testing water from any facilities that serve vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and children under six, (such as) nurseries, schools and hospitals, that may have a lead service connection,'' Smith wrote.

London has issued a warning to pregnant women and children under six not to drink unfiltered or untested water from homes with lead pipes.

Experts say lead in drinking water can cause a variety of adverse health effects.

In babies and children, lead exposure can result in delays in physical and mental development, along with slight deficits in attention span and learning abilities. In adults, it could cause kidney problems or high blood pressure.

Many municipalities have been replacing the old pipes, but Tabuns said the replacement program is proceeding too slowly, especially in older neighbourhoods.

Most Ontario municipalities will test a home's water for free, but if the service line from the street to the home has to be replaced, the homeowner will end up paying about $2,000 of the cost, and possibly as much as $10,000.

Experts had thought that flushing the pipes - by running the tap for about five minutes until the water gets colder - would clear any traces of lead, but they now know that doesn't always work.