For many Canadians, clean drinking water is a given. But despite Canada’s vast freshwater resources, many First Nations' reserves remain under boil water advisories, with some lasting decades. This means that residents are advised to boil water before drinking, brushing their teeth, or washing their faces.
According to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), 29 long-term boil-water advisories are in effect across 37 reserves in Canada. Additionally, since January 2024, eight long-term boil-water advisories have been lifted on communities across Canada, while 18 have been added. A study from the University of Manitoba, published late 2024 by Dr.
Miguel Uyaguari Diaz and graduate student Jocelyn Zambrano Alvarado, shows that the key to sustainable solutions is in tailoring water treatment systems to the specific needs of each community. “If they use surface water, for example, [or] river water, or if they use groundwater, then treatments are going to change,” Zambrano Alvarado said. “It's not that, for example, what works for Toronto will work in remote Indigenous communities.” According to Zambrano Alvarado, while most Indigenous communities in Canada have some level of water treatment infrastructure, many still experience water insecurity.
Having a water treatment facility does not always guarantee safe drinking water, as many systems in Indigenous communities are outdated, poorly maintained, or inadequate, she explained. Most Indigenous communities rely on surface water or groundwater, which can contain high levels of organic material, metals, and bacteria. Standard water treatment processes, like filtration and chlorination, are effective, but require ongoing maintenance and technical expertise.
These are things that are lacking in remote areas with limited electricity and funding. Without proper upkeep, even treated water can still be unsafe. According to Uyaguari Diaz, the best solutions depend on the community’s water source.
“It really depends if the source of water comes from a very polluted river or waterway,” he said. “It will cost more to treat these polluted waters, or waters with a high organic matter.” Some First Nations communities use well water, which is relatively clean — as long as there is no seepage from sewage or septic tanks, said Uyaguari Diaz. The “hardness” of this water — meaning how much calcium and magnesium are present in it — can be decreased using ion exchange (IEX), lime softening, reverse osmosis, and even boiling.
IEX removes unwanted ions from water by swapping them with less harmful ones. Lime softening involves adding lime — derived from limestone — to water. The lime interacts with hardness-causing minerals to form larger, solid particles which can then be filtered out.
Reverse osmosis forces water through a fine membrane to filter out impurities. This produces high-purity drinking water, but requires significant energy and maintenance. Boiling, the simplest method, is good at killing bacteria and viruses, but does not remove chemical contaminants.
Some communities have adopted biological IEX, a natural process that uses living microorganisms like fungi or bacteria to remove water contaminants. This approach helped Middle River, a Tl’azt’en Nation community in British Columbia that had been under a boil-water advisory for over a decade, to lift its advisory in 2018. “It's extremely important to talk with First Nations authorities in that community to make sure that we satisfy their needs and that it's safe for them,” Zambrano Alvarado said, explaining how some communities oppose certain treatments, like chlorine-based treatments.
According to Zambrano Alvarado, the key difference between water governance in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities is the complexity of oversight. Indigenous communities have to navigate a system where three different authorities — the federal government, provincial or territorial governments, and First Nations leadership — are responsible for funding, maintenance, and operations. Non-Indigenous rural communities, however, typically fall under a single governing body — a municipal or provincial authority — which makes decision making more streamlined.
Zambrano Alvarado said that bureaucratic fragmentation often leads to delays in funding and water infrastructure upgrades for Indigenous communities. “There is a lot of information available, but it's not applied. That is the most frustrating thing,” she said.
“There [are] different methods available to solve this issue, but they are not implemented.” For Zambrano Alvarado, solving Indigenous water insecurity goes beyond just finding a scientific solution. “It goes beyond political, it goes beyond socio-cultural context and budget,” she said. “It needs collaboration from the government and also collaboration from and awareness of everyone in Canada.”
