Open Collections

Ávila Flórez, Juan Pablo

University of British Columbia

Access to safe drinking water is essential for human health and well-being. However, small remote Indigenous (SRI) communities face barriers in securing reliable water supplies as a result of geographic isolation, inadequate infrastructure, and financial constraints. Chemical pollutants from natural or anthropogenic sources, in particular, constitute a significant source of water quality contamination and deterioration. The ingestion of these chemicals may pose threats related to non-cancer (NCR) and cancer risks (CR). When water systems (WSs) provide water with desirable quality, it enhances public health, reduces disease prevalence, and improves overall community well-being. There are clear benefits associated with access to safe drinking water, such as increased water quality perception, community well-being, more uptake from the community resulting a larger population served and potential economic returns. Exploring drinking water-related risks and benefits is critical to exploring effective management strategies. It offers valuable insights to minimize the impacts of chemical pollutants on human health. This research aimed to develop a risk management framework to identify, control, and mitigate water quality risks in SRI communities. The study follows a structured approach, which entails three phases. Initially, a literature review was conducted to identify and understand the risks and benefits of drinking water in SRI communities. In the second phase, a detailed risk and benefit assessment was performed. In the third phase, a matrix based on benefit-to-risk ratio (BRR) was developed to guide decision-making. Finally, the framework was applied to six SRI communities across Canada. The findings showed that the risks of two WSs outweigh the benefits, primarily driven by higher concentrations of pollutants, which led to lower water quality perception and reduced population served. The developed framework also provides a foundation to facilitate best management practices. It helps identify which primary pollutants contribute to potential health risks, allowing decision-makers to enhance water quality perception, improve public health outcomes, and achieve economic benefits.

Text

2025-03-18

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90504

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/