Exploring a regional approach in drinking water management in the Strait of Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador

Multiple community collaboration to manage water supply systems among rural communities is fast gaining prominence in rural development literature. It is increasingly difficult for individual communities to provide safe and clean drinking water to their residents due to challenges such as the lack of human and financial capacity, degrading water infrastructure, and high capital investment cost for water infrastructure. This situation could be worsened by challenges typical of rural areas such as declining, aging populations, and the lack of economies of scale. Using a case study approach, my research looks at the prospects in adopting a regional approach to manage water supply systems, particularly with the Newfoundland and Labrador context. A regional approach is defined in this research as any form of collaboration or partnership motivated by common interests, needs or challenges, and permissible by geography to share water supply systems among neighboring communities to ensure clean and safe water supply. This study was situated in the Strait of Belle Isle region in the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland. The study reveals some potentials in the case study region such as sufficient headwaters, the existence of clusters of communities, existing service-sharing initiatives, and the strong social capital that can support a regional water management approach. When these potentials are explored, a regional water system could help address the many water challenges in the region. However, there are noteworthy factors that could impede its implementation: the impacts of place-based dynamics, human and financial capacities, administrative disparities between various scales of communities, and the need for upper-level government’s support. Moreover, the findings illustrate that water researchers, governments, and communities need to consider and make provisions to incorporate these conditions when developing water policies that fully realize the benefits of a regional water management approach

Engaging Diverse Audiences: The Role of Community Radio in Rural Climate Change Knowledge Translation

Community radio is an important form of knowledge dissemination, especially in rural areas where it can create opportunities for a geographically spread-out audience to engage in local debates. Through this article, we reflect on the community-building function of radio and consider how it can be mobilized to support climate change knowledge transfer in rural communities. Our reflections draw on the use of community radio during the Gros Morne Climate Change Symposium, an event that brought together researchers, practitioners, and community members to discuss coastal climate change adaptation in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. We consider the history of radio in Canada, its role in rural communities, and review experiences with radio-focused knowledge dissemination in other locations to frame our own discussion of the topic. Through reflection, each of the co-authors highlights their understanding of the role of community radio at the symposium and argue for the continuing relevance of radio in an era when digital communications are more common. We conclude by arguing that community radio can strengthen place-based identities by creating a distinct forum for engagement and is therefore an important tool for climate change knowledge transfer

Advancing equity in water demand management among local governments in British Columbia, Canada

Sustainable management of and equitable access to water have become pressing and shared global concerns requiring innovative approaches. The stress on water resources and untenable supply-side management have compelled local governments and utilities to employ measures and practices to promote conservation and reduce usage—including bundles of policies often referred to as Water Demand Management (WDM). Among other things, these policies can reduce wasteful water use/losses, ensure fair distribution and billing, and promote efficient use. However, the ways that policymakers formulate and implement these policies have equity implications – often including increased costs, supply disconnections, and the exclusion of some groups from the implementation process. This dissertation employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative surveys and semi-structured interviews, to examine the equity implications of WDM. In doing so, the dissertation synthesizes how equity is conceptualized and impacted by WDM policies in the scholarly literature. From water policymakers’ perspective, the thesis then examines the progress regarding how jurisdictions prioritize, plan, and implement various WDM policies in British Columbia. Analyzing semi-structured interviews with mayors, chief administrative officers, and public works officers in metered jurisdictions helps to understand how they conceptualize equity and seek to address inequities in their local contexts. The dissertation finds that equity is mainly perceived as equality, where the cost and benefits of WDM are shared among water users in line with the cost-of-service principle. While the province is increasingly adopting these measures to conserve water and reduce usage, the analysis also suggests that efforts are needed to address potential associated access and affordability challenges. This dissertation contributes to the ongoing discourse on sustainable water management and equity, shedding light on the potential negative impacts of WDM policies, and considerations going forward.Science, Faculty ofResources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute forGraduat