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Water delivery system effects on coliform bacteria in tap water in First Nations reserves in Manitoba, Canada

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Abstract

About one-half of the homes on First Nations (FN) reserves in Manitoba, Canada, receive piped water from a water treatment plant (WTP). Many other homes (31%) are equipped with cisterns that are filled by a water truck, and our objective was to determine how the use of cisterns affects drinking water safety relative to drinking water piped directly to homes from the WTP. The study included belowground concrete cisterns, belowground fiberglass cisterns, and aboveground polyethylene cisterns stored in insulated shelters, and all the data collection methods showed that the tap water in homes with cisterns were relatively more contaminated with coliform bacteria than the tap water in piped homes. The frequency and severity of Escherichia coli and total coliform contamination were numerically greater in drinking water samples from belowground concrete and fiberglass cisterns than in piped water samples in each community, and the contamination of belowground cisterns by coliform bacteria was greatest in late spring. As well, data obtained under the Access to Information Act showed no statistical differences in the percent of satisfactory samples (no detects) between 2014 and 2018, suggesting no clear indication of improved water quality in any of the Tribal Councils in which these three and other communities are a member off. Our results point to the need for additional treatment of drinking water in homes supplied by belowground concrete or fiberglass cisterns and replacement of belowground cisterns with aboveground cisterns or piped water to reduce the risk of water-borne illnesses.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank the Band Councils and the residents of the First Nations reserves who partnered with us in this research. The authors wish to acknowledge the NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships-Doctoral (PGS D) and the University of Manitoba Graduate Scholarship awarded to Amarawansha. In addition, we thank Ruidong Mi for the assistance in sampling and laboratory analysis.

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through its Collaborative Research and Training Experience program (CREATE grant# 432009–2013) and Discovery Grant (DG) programs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba 13 Freedman Crescent, R3T 2N2, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Geethani Eragoda Arachchilage Amarawansha, Francis Zvomuya & Annemieke Farenhorst

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  1. Geethani Eragoda Arachchilage Amarawansha
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  2. Francis Zvomuya
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Geethani Amarawansha, Francis Zvomuya, and Annemieke Farenhorst; Managing relationship with the Indigenous partners, Annemieke Farenhorst and Geethani Amarawansha; Data curation, Geethani Amarawansha; Formal analysis, Geethani Amarawansha; Funding acquisition, Francis Zvomuya and Annemieke Farenhorst; Methodology, Geethani Amarawansha and Annemieke Farenhorst; Resources, Francis Zvomuya and Annemieke Farenhorst; Supervision, Francis Zvomuya and Annemieke Farenhorst; Writing—original draft, Geethani Amarawansha; Writing—review and editing, Francis Zvomuya and Annemieke Farenhorst.

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Correspondence to Geethani Eragoda Arachchilage Amarawansha.

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Amarawansha, G.E.A., Zvomuya, F. & Farenhorst, A. Water delivery system effects on coliform bacteria in tap water in First Nations reserves in Manitoba, Canada. Environ Monit Assess 193, 339 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09114-x

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