Boil water advisories and climate change in Canada
Climate change has already resulted in changes to many natural processes relevant to drinking water including changes in precipitation and temperature patterns, increased frequency, severity, or variance in floods, forest fires, droughts, freezing rain, and sea level rise and intrusion.
In Canada, the effects of climate change are expected to impact small, rural, and remote water systems more than large urban water systems because smaller systems are already more vulnerable to water safety hazards such as limited treatment and aging infrastructure. This vulnerability is reflected in the high number of boil water advisories that have historically been issued in small communities in Canada.
A boil water advisory informs the public that there is an increased level of risk associated with their water and that they should boil it before using it for drinking, cooking, and tooth brushing. We analyzed the underlying causes of boil water advisories in Canada between 2005 and 2021 using an anonymized national data set provided by the Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence.
Read this open access paper on the FACETS website.
As has been shown in previous studies, we found that the majority of boil water advisories called during this period occurred in small water systems, and that communities with fewer than 1,000 residents were particularly likely to experience repeat and/or long-term boil water advisories.
Another key finding from our study was that most boil water advisories were related to breakdowns of water distribution infrastructure (pipes, pumping stations, etc.), rather than water treatment equipment. This, in combination with our seasonal trend analysis, revealed important opportunities for targeted adaptation of drinking water infrastructure in response to climate change.
We formulated five recommendations for future research and policy based on our study:
Recommendation #1: Use case studies and regional data sets to determine the impacts of water regulations, infrastructure design guidelines, and local climate projections on water safety.
Recommendation #2: Compare boil water advisory data to water infrastructure costing data and socioeconomic indicators to better understand the potential costs and social impacts of climate change on drinking water systems and water users.
Recommendation #3: Mobilize industry expertise to develop cost effective and sustainable long term water safety solutions that are resilient to climate change.
Recommendation #4: Implement consistent boil water advisory policies and reporting procedures across Canada.
Recommendation #5: Work to shift public perception of water safety in Canada from boil water advisories to a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of safe water.
Read the paper — How might climate change impact water safety and boil water advisories in Canada? by Sara Moghaddam-Ghadimi, Audrey Tam, Usman T. Khan, and Stephanie L. Gora.
