Kashechewan

One of the most significant examples of water quality issues on first nation lands is the devastating event that occurred in October 2005 to the Kashechewan people.  

The Kashechewan people are part of the Cree First Nation, one of the largest native tribes in North America.  This community is located in north-eastern Ontario and is located on a flood plain, which means that flooding often occurs and can contaminate the water supply due to over capacity.  Below I've attached a map of where the Kashechewan community is located:

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What occurred in 2005 to this community was devastating and forced over half the population, roughly 1000 people out of about 1900, to evacuate.   The people affected were relocated to various cities around the Ontario area and the evacuation cost were estimated to be roughly $16 million (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/kashechewan.html).   This community had already been under a boil water advisory (BWA) since 2003, when in October '05 the communities' water supply became contaminated with E.Coli, uranium and unstable chlorine levels.  This resulted in "scabies, chronic diarrhea, headaches and fevers." (http://media.knet.ca/node/1655)     

According to Media Knet "Kashechewan’s water treatment plant, funded 10 years ago by Indian Affairs, was designed by out-of-town consultants. It was placed downstream from an existing sewage lagoon. That means contaminants flow past the intake pipe that feeds raw water into the complex system to be treated for drinking."

This event enlightened many Canadian's eyes on the conditions that some first nation tribes live in, despite the media and governments attempt to blame "serious health problems of the community on its long history of overcrowding and squalor, not any recent change in water quality" (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/macleans/evacuation-of-kashechewan-reserve-an-overreaction).  Even if overcrowding were to be the case, this community had been under a BWA for 2yrs previous to this disaster.  The government placed the BWA as a solution, however as evident in the picture above this was only temporary.