The Rocky Path to Source Water Protection: A Cross-Case Analysis of Drinking Water Crises in Small Communities in Canada

Pharmaceutical contaminants have become a global “emerging pollutant”. Many countries developed various policies and technologies to deal with the problem. In Malaysia, there is no serious attention given to this problem in the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA) and other regulations (Malaysian legislation). Therefore, pharmaceutical contaminants still enter the environment and affect human health through water consumption and water usage. In response to this problem, this study aims to analyse Malaysian legislation and to identify potential protection provided to protect source water from pharmaceutical contaminants. This study employed a qualitative approach. A systematic search was carried out on existing pharmaceutical-related Malaysian legislation. Later, content analysis was conducted to discover patterns and ideas within the existing legislation. This would determine the provisions that could assist the protection of source water from pharmaceutical contaminants. The findings of this study demonstrate only few provisions addressed the problem of pharmaceutical contaminants and thus, this type of contaminant continues to harm theenvironment. It is hoped that the result of this study could enhance Malaysian legislation pertaining to the problem and minimise the risk of pharmaceutical contaminant in drinking water.

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Understanding Local Water Collaboration for the Potential to Enhance Community Source Water Protection at Chippewas of the Thames First Nation

Rural Review: Ontario Rural Planning, Development, and Policy ◽

10.21083/ruralreview.v5i1.6596 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Natalya Garrod

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

First Nations ◽

Significant Risk ◽

Water Security ◽

Source Water ◽

Water Protection ◽

Water Insecurity ◽

Source Water Protection ◽

Local Water ◽

Community Source

First Nations in Canada are disproportionately affected by chronic drinking water insecurity (Bakker, 2012). Aboriginal Affair and Northern Development Canada conducted an assessment of First Nations water and wastewater systems in 2001 and found significant risk to the quality and safety of drinking water on three- quarters of all systems (Johns and Rasmussen, 2008). Neegan Burnside (2011) classified four differentrisks that affect drinking water systems for First Nations, which include, no source water protection plan,deterioration of water quality over time, risk of contamination, and insufficient capacity to meet futurerequirements. This study found that the two highest risks were risk of source water contamination and thelack of a community source water protection plan (Neegan Burnside, 2011). Water security, sustainableaccess on a watershed basis to adequate quantities of water of acceptable quality to ensure human andecosystem health (Bakker, 2012), therefore requires source water protection and collaboration amongwater actors. Collaboration is defined as the pooling of resources by multiple stakeholders to solveproblems, which includes a balance of power among actors, mutually agreed upon objectives, is perceived as legitimate, and includes a wide variety of stakeholders (Ashlie, 2019; Van Der Porten, 2013; Spencer etal., 2016; Black & McBean, 2017).

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SOURCE WATER PROTECTION FROM PHARMACEUTICAL CONTAMINANTS: ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT 1974 AND ITS REGULATIONS

PLANNING MALAYSIA JOURNAL ◽

10.21837/pm.v17i10.638 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 ◽

Author(s):

Adillah Othman ◽

Mariani Ariffin

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Content Analysis ◽

Environmental Quality ◽

Qualitative Approach ◽

Source Water ◽

Water Protection ◽

Water Usage ◽

Pharmaceutical Contaminants ◽

Emerging Pollutant ◽

Source Water Protection

Pharmaceutical contaminants have become a global “emerging pollutant”. Many countries developed various policies and technologies to deal with the problem. In Malaysia, there is no serious attention given to this problem in the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA) and other regulations (Malaysian legislation). Therefore, pharmaceutical contaminants still enter the environment and affect human health through water consumption and water usage. In response to this problem, this study aims to analyse Malaysian legislation and to identify potential protection provided to protect source water from pharmaceutical contaminants. This study employed a qualitative approach. A systematic search was carried out on existing pharmaceutical-related Malaysian legislation. Later, content analysis was conducted to discover patterns and ideas within the existing legislation. This would determine the provisions that could assist the protection of source water from pharmaceutical contaminants. The findings of this study demonstrate only few provisions addressed the problem of pharmaceutical contaminants and thus, this type of contaminant continues to harm theenvironment. It is hoped that the result of this study could enhance Malaysian legislation pertaining to the problem and minimise the risk of pharmaceutical contaminant in drinking water.

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Risky business : the role of risk perception in the Ontario source water protection planning process

10.32920/ryerson.14656629 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mary K Rollinson-Lorimer

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Risk Perception ◽

Planning Process ◽

Clean Water Act ◽

Clean Water ◽

Source Water ◽

Water Protection ◽

The Public ◽

Related Risk ◽

Source Water Protection

The purpose of this research was: 1. to investigate whether the perception of drinking water-related risk differs between the public and a Source Protection Committee established under Ontario's new Clean Water Act to make decisions about source water protection, 2. to explore how the public makes risk-based decisions about drinking water-related risk, and, 3. to estimate how any differences in drinking water-related risk perception and decision making between the Committee and the public may affect the implementation of the Clean Water Act. Mail and telephone surveys were conducted in a Southern Ontario Region of Study, and were given to samples of the public and the Committee. The two groups had different perceptions of water risk, which could pose challenges for making collective decisions about water risks. Successful source water protection depends on the ability of the Committees and the public to make appropriate decisions about risks to drinking water sources.

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Understanding Local Water Collaboration for the Potential to Enhance Community Source Water Protection at Chippewas of the Thames First Name

Rural Review: Ontario Rural Planning, Development, and Policy ◽

10.21083/ruralreview.v5i1.6588 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Natalya Garrod

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

First Nations ◽

Significant Risk ◽

Water Security ◽

Source Water ◽

Water Protection ◽

Water Insecurity ◽

Source Water Protection ◽

Local Water ◽

Community Source

First Nations in Canada are disproportionately affected by chronic drinking water insecurity (Bakker, 2012). Aboriginal Affair and Northern Development Canada conducted an assessment of First Nations water and wastewater systems in 2001 and found significant risk to the quality and safety of drinking water on three- quarters of all systems (Johns and Rasmussen, 2008). Neegan Burnside (2011) classified four differentrisks that affect drinking water systems for First Nations, which include, no source water protection plan,deterioration of water quality over time, risk of contamination, and insufficient capacity to meet futurerequirements. This study found that the two highest risks were risk of source water contamination and thelack of a community source water protection plan (Neegan Burnside, 2011). Water security, sustainableaccess on a watershed basis to adequate quantities of water of acceptable quality to ensure human andecosystem health (Bakker, 2012), therefore requires source water protection and collaboration amongwater actors. Collaboration is defined as the pooling of resources by multiple stakeholders to solveproblems, which includes a balance of power among actors, mutually agreed upon objectives, is perceived as legitimate, and includes a wide variety of stakeholders (Ashlie, 2019; Van Der Porten, 2013; Spencer etal., 2016; Black & McBean, 2017).

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Bringing Agriculture and Drinking Water Utilities Together for Source Water Protection

American Water Works Association ◽

10.1002/awwa.1340 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 111 (8) ◽

pp. 34-39 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

G. Tracy Mehan ◽

Adam T. Carpenter

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Water Utilities ◽

Source Water ◽

Water Protection ◽

Source Water Protection

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Is the Distribution of Ecosystem Service Benefits Pro-Poor? Evidence from Water Purification by Forests in Thailand

Water Economics and Policy ◽

10.1142/s2382624x20500058 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 06 (03) ◽

pp. 2050005

Author(s):

Jeffrey R. Vincent ◽

Orapan Nabangchang ◽

Congjie Shi

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Water Purification ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Source Water ◽

Water Protection ◽

Deforestation Rates ◽

Source Water Protection ◽

The Cost ◽

Treated Drinking Water

Forests are widely believed to provide a water purification service that reduces the cost of treating drinking water, but few empirical economic studies have investigated this service in developing countries, where deforestation rates and thus threats to the service tend to be higher than in developed countries. Even fewer studies have investigated the distribution of the benefits of this service, or any other regulating ecosystem service for that matter, in either developing or developed countries. Using quarterly panel data for 158 water utilities in Thailand during 2004–2014, we find robust evidence that forests significantly reduced the material cost of water treatment, but we find no evidence that the cost reductions were progressive in the sense of being larger in provinces with higher poverty rates. The economic justification for source water protection in Thailand appears to hinge purely on considerations of efficiency — does source water protection provide net benefits? — not on the distribution of those benefits between poorer and richer locations. Research in other countries is needed to determine if the absence of pro-poor distributional impacts of forest water purification is unique to Thailand or the norm and if interventions that enhance forest water purification significantly reduce poverty in locations served by treated drinking water systems.

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