Drinking water quality in Indigenous communities in Canada and health outcomes: a scoping review

Abstract

Many Indigenous communities in Canada live with high-risk drinking water systems and drinking water advisories and experience health status and water quality below that of the general population. A scoping review of research examining drinking water quality and its relationship to Indigenous health was conducted. The study was undertaken to identify the extent of the literature, summarize current reports and identify research needs. A scoping review was designed to identify peer-reviewed literature that examined challenges related to drinking water and health in Indigenous communities in Canada. Key search terms were developed and mapped on five bibliographic databases (MEDLINE/PubMED, Web of Knowledge, SciVerse Scopus, Taylor and Francis online journal and Google Scholar). Online searches for grey literature using relevant government websites were completed. Sixteen articles (of 518; 156 bibliographic search engines, 362 grey literature) met criteria for inclusion (contained keywords; publication year 2000–2015; peer-reviewed and from Canada). Studies were quantitative ( 8 Harbinson M . An analysis of water quality and human health issues in First Nations communities in Canada. ENSC 501 – Independent Environmental Study Project. Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada: Environmental Studies Undergraduate Thesis. 2012; 1–58. [Google Scholar] ), qualitative ( 5 Mascarenhas M . Where the waters divide: First Nations, tainted water and environmental justice in Canada. Local Environ. 2007; 12: 565–77. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ) or mixed ( 3 Morrison A , Bradford L , Bharadwaj L . Quantifiable progress of the First Nations Water Management Strategy, 2001–2013: ready for regulation?. Can Water Resour J. 2015; 40: 352–72. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ) and included case, cohort, cross-sectional and participatory designs. In most articles, no definition of “health” was given (14/16), and the primary health issue described was gastrointestinal illness (12/16). Challenges to the study of health and well-being with respect to drinking water in Indigenous communities included irregular funding, remote locations, ethical approval processes, small sample sizes and missing data. Research on drinking water and health outcomes in Indigenous communities in Canada is limited and occurs on an opportunistic basis. There is a need for more research funding, and inquiry to inform policy decisions for improvements of water quality and health-related outcomes in Indigenous communities. A coordinated network looking at First Nations water and health outcomes, a database to store and create access to research findings, increased funding and time frames for funding, and more decolonizing and community-based participatory research aimed at understanding the relationship between drinking water quality and health outcomes in First Nations communities in Canada are needed.