Lalita Bharadwaj

In Canada, First Nations (FN) are the largest of three Indigenous groups who have occupied and lived on the land for thousands of years. With a current population of about 1.1 million, universal access to safe drinking water remains a persistent problem, with advisories a norm rather than an exception in many FN communities. This study examines the Federal Government's approach to resolving the issues of long-term drinking water advisories (LTDWAs) across FN Reserves in Canada. The objective was to determine the acknowledgment and application of FN water principles and values within the federal LTDWA intervention framework. Financial and technical capacity was also explored. Results indicate that the Federal Government's approach to eradicating LTDWA in FN focuses on infrastructure technologies, overlooking other aspects of sustainable water supply, such as advanced source water protection. As such, it overlooked (1) FN water management principles and values; (2) FN strength and capacity to manage their water; and (3) First Nations’ right to self-determination. It is argued that the poor attention to FN water principles and values, including the failure to address the issues of financial and technological capacity, undermines FN rights to self-determination and contributes to the continuous presence of LTDWAs in communities.

Excessive nutrient loading in freshwater is a water quality and safety concern for Indigenous communities, especially those with inadequate water treatment. Continuous nutrient monitoring efforts in collaboration with community members require cost-effective but information-rich methods. Data gathered through community-science approaches could enhance source water protection programs and can provide first-hand knowledge and expertise through reciprocal information exchange with local community members. Yet, there are still misconceptions about the validity of data gathered by community scientists. This study validates the use of two inexpensive nutrient monitoring devices (YSI 9500 Photometer and the Nutrient Smartphone App) for community-based environmental research by testing the accuracy of each device, identifying nutrient hotspots, and determining if nutrient concentrations relate to precipitation patterns in a drought-prone region of Saskatchewan within the Lake Winnipeg Basin in Canada. We found that the measurement accuracy of these devices varied depending on the compound tested, with the poorest results for nitrate (r² = 0.07) and the best results for phosphate (r² = 0.89) when using the photometer. Seasonal nutrient concentration patterns differed between the years of moderate (2019) and low (2021) precipitation, but there was no correlation between rainfall amounts and nutrient concentrations, suggesting other drivers. This study identifies the strengths and weaknesses of cost-effective nutrient testing devices, guiding continuous monitoring efforts with communities.

Collaborative water governance in Indigenous territories requires the building of a nation-to-nation relationship where different water worldviews and knowledges are acknowledged, valued, and included in water governance. This article presents the Mistawasis Nêhiyawak Honour the Water Governance Framework, an alternative collaborative water governance approach in Saskatchewan, Canada. The Nêhiyawak principles, identity, knowledge, and self-determination are its foundation. Equitable dialogue is the central axis. The framework represents an alternative water governance structure to the current Canadian system that may more effectively respond to the water challenges of this First Nation. This framework supports the appeal from Mistawasis First Nation and other Nations, for the de-construction of hegemonic colonial water governance systems towards the co-construction of shared processes of water participation, decision-making, and responsibility.

To support Indigenous communities in preparing for uncertainties such as climate change impacts and unexpected threats to health, there are calls by researchers and community members for decision support tools that meaningfully and sensitively bring together Indigenous contextualized factors such as social dynamics, local- and culture-specific knowledge, and data with academic tools and practices including predictive modeling. This project used a community engaged approach to co-create an agent-based model geographically bounded to a reserve community to examine three community-requested simulations. Community members and researchers co-designed, built, and verified the model simulations: a contaminated water delivery truck; a Pow Wow where a waterborne infectious disease spreads; and a flood which restricts typical movement around the reserve for daily tasks and health care. The simulations’ findings, displayed as both conventional and narrative outputs, revealed management areas where community adaptation and mitigation are needed, including enhancing health service provision in times of disease outbreaks or large community events, and creating back-up plans for overcoming flood impacts to ensure services are accessible for vulnerable members of the community. Recommendations for communities, researchers, and modelers are discussed.

Conflicts around the multi-purpose water uses of Lake Diefenbaker (LD) in Saskatchewan, Canada need to be addressed to meet rapidly expanding water demands in the arid Canadian prairie region. This study explores these conflicts to advance collaborative planning as a means for improving the current water governance and management of this lake. Qualitative methodology that employed a wide participatory approach was used to collect focus group data from 92 individuals, who formed a community of water users. Results indicate that the community of water users is unified in wanting to maintain water quality and quantity, preserving the lake’s aesthetics, and reducing water source vulnerability. Results also show these users are faced with water resource conflicts resulting from lack of coherence of regulatory instruments in the current governance regime, and acceptable management procedures of both consumptive and contemporary water uses that are interlinked in seven areas of: irrigation, industrial, and recreational water uses; reservoir water level for flood control and hydroelectricity production; wastewater and lagoon management; fish farm operations; and regional water development projects. As a means of advancing collaborative planning, improvements in water allocation and regulatory instruments could be made to dissipate consumptive use conflicts and fill the under-regulation void that exists for contemporary water uses. Additionally, a comprehensive LD water use master plan, as a shared vision to improve participation in governance, could be developed to direct the water uses that have emerged over time. This study suggests that these three areas are practical starting conditions that would enable successful collaborative planning for the seven areas of water uses. Focusing on these three areas would ensure the current and future needs of the community of water users are met, while avoiding reactive ways of solving water problems in the LD region, especially as the water crisis in the Canadian Prairie region where LD is located is expected to intensify.

The adsorptive removal of trihalomethanes (THMs) from spiked water samples was evaluated with a series of modified polysaccharide adsorbents that contain β-cylodextrin or chitosan. The uptake properties of these biodegradable polymer adsorbents were evaluated with a mixture of THMs in aqueous solution. Gas chromatography employing a direct aqueous injection (DAI) method with electrolytic conductivity detection enabled quantification of THMs in water at 295 K and at pH 6.5. The adsorption isotherms for the polymer-THMs was evaluated using the Sips model, where the monolayer adsorption capacities ranged between 0.04 and 1.07 mmol THMs/g for respective component THMs. Unique adsorption characteristics were observed that vary according to the polymer structure, composition, and surface chemical properties. The modified polysaccharide adsorbents display variable molecular recognition and selectivity toward component THMs in the mixed systems according to the molecular size and polarizability of the adsorbates.

Transdisciplinary researchers collaborate with diverse partners outside of academia to tackle sustainability problems. The patterns and practices of social interaction and the contextual nature of transdisciplinary research result in different performance expectations than traditional, curiosity-driven research. Documenting patterns of interaction can inform project success and affirm progress toward interim outcomes on the way to achieve sustainability impacts. Yet providing credible and robust indicators of research activity remains challenging. We provide quantitative and qualitative indicators for assessing transdisciplinary practices and patterns through social network analysis (SNA). Our assessment developed four criteria to reveal how SNA metrics provide insight into (1) diversity of participants; (2) whether and how integration and collaboration are occurring, (3) the relative degrees of network stability and fragility, and (4) how the network is structured to achieve its goals. These four key criteria can be used to help identify patterns of research activity and determine whether interim progress is occurring.

There are analogous challenges when it comes to the management and provision of health services and drinking water in First Nations reserves in Canada; both represent human rights and both involve complex and multijurisdictional management. The purpose of this study is to translate the tenets of Jordan’s Principle, a child-first principle regarding health service provision, within the broader context of First Nation drinking water governance in order to identify avenues for positive change. This project involved secondary analysis of data from 53 semi-structured, key informant (KI) interviews across eight First Nation communities in western Canada. Data were coded according to the three principles of: provision of culturally inclusive management, safeguarding health, and substantive equity. Failure to incorporate Traditional Knowledge, water worldviews, and holistic health as well as challenges to technical management were identified as areas currently restricting successful drinking water management. Recommendations include improved infrastructure, increased resources (both financial and non-financial), in-community capacity building, and relationship building. To redress the inequities currently experienced by First Nations when it comes to management of and access to safe drinking water, equitable governance structures developed from the ground up and embedded in genuine relationships between First Nations and Canadian federal government agencies are required.

This essay reviews challenges posed to community-engaged scholars regarding tenure/promotion processes in Canadian universities, with a note to characteristics of community-engaged scholarship that were developed by Catherine Jordan (2007) to address gaps in academic assessment of engaged scholarship. These characteristics are: clear goals, adequate preparation, appropriate methods: scientific rigor and community engagement, significant results/impact, effective presentation/dissemination, reflective critique, leadership and personal contribution, and consistently ethical behavior. These are then applied to a non-peer reviewed work that describes the cumulative effects of environmental change for people in the Slave River Delta Region of the North West Territories, Canada. The reader is asked to view Delta Ways Remembered, a 13-minute video employing an enhanced e-storytelling technique to share and disseminate traditional knowledge about the delta from a compendium of people as a single-voiced narrative. The purpose is to highlight the scholarship underlying non-traditional academic expositions not readily assessed under current paradigms of academic evaluation. This essay strives to illustrate how Jordan’s characteristics can be applied to evaluate non-peer reviewed scholarly work, and also to share rewards and challenges associated with the harmonious blending of Indigenous and western knowledge addressing societal/environmental issues identified by the Indigenous community.