Daley Kiley, Castleden Heather, Jamieson Rob, Furgal Chris, Ell Lorna
Centre for Water Resource Studies, Dalhousie University, Canada.
Departments of Geography and Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Canada.
Soc Sci Med. 2015 Jun;135:124-32. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.04.017. Epub 2015 Apr 22.
Safe drinking water and wastewater sanitation are universally recognized as critical components of public health. It is well documented that a lack of access to these basic services results in millions of preventable deaths each year among vulnerable populations. Water and wastewater technologies and management practices are frequently tailored to local environmental conditions. Also important, but often overlooked in water management planning, are the social, cultural and economic contexts in which services are provided. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify and understand residents' perceptions of the functionality of current water and wastewater sanitation systems in one vulnerable context, that of a remote Arctic Aboriginal community (Coral Harbour, Nunavut), and to identify potential future water related health risks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 Inuit residents and 9 key informants in 2011 and 2012. Findings indicate that the population's rapid transition from a semi-nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle to permanent settlements with municipally provided utilities is influencing present-day water usage patterns, public health perceptions, and the level of priority decision-makers place on water and wastewater management issues. Simultaneously environmental, social and cultural conditions conducive to increased human exposure to waterborne health risks were also found to exist and may be increasing in the settlements. While water and wastewater system design decisions are often based on best practices proven suitable in similar environmental conditions, this study reinforces the argument for inclusion of social, cultural, and economic variables in such decisions, particularly in remote and economically challenged contexts in Canada or elsewhere around the world. The results also indicate that the addition of qualitative data about water and wastewater systems users' behaviours to technical knowledge of systems and operations can enhance the understanding of human-water interactions and be valuable in risk assessments and intervention development.
安全饮用水和废水卫生设施被公认为是公共卫生的关键组成部分。有充分的文献记载，缺乏这些基本服务每年导致数百万弱势群体中本可预防的死亡。水和废水处理技术及管理实践通常是根据当地环境条件量身定制的。同样重要但在水资源管理规划中常常被忽视的是提供这些服务的社会、文化和经济背景。本定性案例研究的目的是识别并理解居民对当前一个脆弱地区（北极偏远原住民社区，努纳武特地区珊瑚港）水和废水卫生系统功能的看法，并识别未来潜在的与水相关的健康风险。2011年和2012年，对28名因纽特居民和9名关键信息提供者进行了半结构化访谈。研究结果表明，该人群从半游牧狩猎和采集生活方式迅速过渡到由市政提供公用设施的永久定居点，正在影响当今的用水模式、公共卫生观念以及决策者对水和废水管理问题的重视程度。同时，还发现有利于人类更多接触水传播健康风险的环境、社会和文化条件在定居点存在，且可能正在增加。虽然水和废水系统的设计决策通常基于在类似环境条件下已证明适用的最佳实践，但本研究强化了在这类决策中纳入社会、文化和经济变量的观点，特别是在加拿大或世界其他地方的偏远和经济困难地区。结果还表明，将关于水和废水系统用户行为的定性数据添加到系统和运营的技术知识中，可以增强对人与水相互作用的理解，并在风险评估和干预措施制定中具有价值。
