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Research Article

A quantitative analysis of drinking water advisories in Saskatchewan Indigenous and rural communities 2012–2016

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Pages 345-357 | Received 14 Feb 2020, Accepted 29 Sep 2020, Published online: 25 Oct 2020
 

Abstract

This study complements the existing literature on disparities associated with Indigenous and non-Indigenous small drinking water systems. The team took a quantitative approach and assessed relationships between seasonality, location, and type of community against the number of drinking water advisories in Saskatchewan for a 4-year period from 2012 to 2016. Generalised estimating equations were used to determine significant factors contributing to the likelihood of drinking water advisories comparing Indigenous to non-Indigenous communities of similar sizes. Results indicated that the season and the interaction between community type and region (north vs. south) were significant in the model for counts of advisories. Reserve communities in the north had a drinking water advisory count that was 5.19 times greater than those of reserves in the south, 2.63 times greater than counts for towns in the south and 4.94 times greater than those of villages in the south. Additional comparisons indicated that reserves in the north had 2.43 times as many advisories as villages in the north, but towns situated in the south part of the province had 1.98 times as many advisories as reserves in the south, and 1.88 times as many advisories as villages in the south. The work confirms heightened risk among northern Indigenous communities and suggests that increased attention to, and investment in, securing water resources is necessary in rural Saskatchewan and globally.

RÉSUMÉ

Pour compléter la documentation existante sur les disparités associées aux petits réseaux d'eau potable autochtones et non autochtones, nous avons adopté une approche quantitative et évalué les relations entre la saisonnalité, l'emplacement et le type de communauté par rapport au nombre d'avis d'eau potable en Saskatchewan pour une période de 4 ans de 2012 à 2016. Des équations d'estimation généralisées ont été utilisées pour déterminer les facteurs importants contribuant à la probabilité que des avis sur l'eau potable comparent des communautés autochtones à des communautés non autochtones de tailles similaires. Les résultats ont indiqué que la saison et l'interaction entre le type de communauté et la région (nord vs sud) étaient significatives dans le modèle de dénombrement des avis. Les communautés des réserves du nord avaient un décompte des avis sur l'eau potable qui était 5,19 fois supérieur à celui des réserves du sud, 2,63 fois supérieur à celui des villes du sud et 4,94 fois supérieur à celui des villages du sud. Des comparaisons supplémentaires ont indiqué que les réserves du nord comptaient 2,43 fois plus d'avis que les villages du nord, mais les villes situées dans la partie sud de la province avaient 1,98 fois plus d'avis que les réserves du sud et 1,88 fois plus d'avis que les villages dans le Sud. Les travaux confirment un risque accru chez les communautés autochtones du Nord et suggèrent qu'une attention accrue et des investissements pour sécuriser les ressources en eau sont nécessaires dans les régions rurales de la Saskatchewan et le monde.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to sincerely thank Kevin McLeod, Director, Environmental Health, Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, and Sam Ferris, Senior Vice President, Regulatory, Saskatchewan Water Security Agency for their support and assistance in the provision of the datasets.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research forms, in part, JD’s master of public health thesis. JD was supported by a University of Saskatchewan Graduate Teaching Fellowship and a School of Public Health Scholarship. The research was unfunded.

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