Water Safety Planning in Partnership with the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority: A Strategy for Water Regulation

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Canada has struggled for decades with the challenge of providing safe drinking water and sanitation for all Canadians-particularly for its Indigenous communities. Accordingly, the Government of Canada has prioritized removing long-term boil water advisories (BWAs) in First Nations communities across Canada. Studies related to BWAs, particularly in First Nations have identified operational concerns as the leading cause of precautionary BWA issuance. Water safety plans (WSPs) represent a proactive method for managing risk in water supply systems. This method of managing risk has been conducted successfully in over 90 countries, either at a jurisdictional level or through case studies, but has not been developed extensively in Canada or in First Nations Communities. The WSP approach examined in this study provides a tool focused on prioritization of risk mitigation procedures such as operational hazardous events, instead of focusing solely on water quality monitoring programs. BWAs lack the sophistication to communicate information about risk in a water system and the WSP is a method acknowledged globally for its capacity to provide safe water to systems. The impact this research will have on the water systems will be instrumental to the First Nations communities. In particular, First Nations water operators will have the resources to identify hazards and assess risks which then can be used to develop a detailed improvement plan to help make informed decisions on the water system. This iterative process will ensure that each water system continues to evolve as hazards are mitigated and risks are lessened, resulting in long-term, sustainable, clean drinking water. This research program seeks to evaluate WSP sustainability and effectiveness and how WSPs can be integrated into First Nations communities' water governance structure. This is a collaborative partnership between the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority, and Dalhousie University.