Indigenous Safe Drinking Water Crisis in Canada- overview
Importance of Clean Water
In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the basic human rights to water and sanitation, decreeing that everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use. The Sixth Sustainable Development Goal also calls for universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water. However, water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the global population and this number is expected to rise. Clean water is one of the few things in life that never fails to live up to expectations. It changes almost everything and its importance to every single person on this planet is understated. Remember that without water, our planet would not exist. We would not exist.
Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene is a basic human right, yet there are billions of individuals who are still faced with daily challenges when accessing even the most basic of services. Having clean water and sanitation means being able to avoid exposure to countless diseases. Every single year, millions of people lose their lives to diseases caused by inadequate water, supply, sanitation and hygiene. The benefits of having a source of clean water in a community are much wider. When women and girls no longer have to walk miles and miles to fetch water each day, they have more time to learn. Literacy rates will rise, and when schools build proper toilet facilities, girls spend more time in school and less time at home.
Description of Issue
Did you know that many Indigenous groups in Canada are living in third world conditions in a first world country? Canada possesses the world’s third largest freshwater reserves. Despite that, 618 First Nations Communities are not supplied with safe drinking water. This issue has been going on for decades, with these communities suffering the full weight of the consequences of the inadequate water they have. The lack of clean, safe drinking water in the Canadian First Nations communities is one of the greatest violations of the United Nations recognized human rights to water and sanitation.
Drinking Water Advisories
Drinking water advisories are issued to warn people not to drink unsafe water by testing water quality. In 2018, there were 174 unsafe drinking water advisories in over 100 First Nations communities. Short term advisories warn residents of a short-term water quality issue on a certain water system. Long term drinking water advisories are those that have been in place for more than one year. There are three types of advisories: boil water, do not consume, and do not use. Boil water advisories advise people that they should boil their tap water for at least one minute before they drink the water, and use it for other purposes such as brushing their teeth.
These advisories are issued when there are problems with the water treatment system or the water has disease causing viruses, bacteria, or parasites. Do not consume advisories are issued when the water system has contaminants, like lead, that cannot be removed from the water by boiling. This tells people that they should not use tap water to drink or use it for other purposes. During this advisory, you cannot use the water to bathe infants, toddlers and the elderly. Do not use advisories mean that the water cannot be used for any reason. It is issued when using the water poses a health risk, the water system has pollutants that cannot be removed through boiling, and being exposed to the water through pathing could irritate the skin, eyes, and nose. In all of the above advisories you cannot use the water to bathe infants, toddlers and the elderly.
