International Polar Year Research Project

Project Details

While wetlands are currently being used for sewage treatment in many Northern communities, there is still a lack of knowledge about how to best design wetlands to suit Arctic conditions and meet changing community needs, especially as populations grow and become more urbanized.

The purpose of this project is to help address the growing need for environmentally sustainable technologies and resource management practices by contributing to safe, practical and low-cost wastewater solutions. The CAWT was awarded $700,000 over four years in IPY funding by the Canadian federal government to conduct this research.

The research activities will primarily take place in the region of Kivalliq in Nunavut, and will focus on:

• Describing in detail existing wetland treatment systems
• Developing a prototype design specific to Arctic needs
• Training and educational initiatives for community members and technicians

Collaboration and partnership are key components of each activity. The data that is collected will be used to develop guidelines for treating wastewater with wetlands in the North, which could be used for regulations. Through the training component, communities will be engaged in environmental monitoring and management of this ‘living’ technology. This research initiative has the potential to make significant contributions to the health of Northern peoples and the stewardship of water resources.

Background Info and Motivation

Municipal wastewater effluent has been repeatedly identified as one of the largest sources of pollution, by volume, discharged to surface water bodies in Canada. Reducing this pollution and its associated risks to public health and water quality is at the heart of the CAWT’s mandate.

Wastewater and water treatment methods are a particular challenge for Northern populations. Disparities in access to safe water and appropriate water treatment methods exist between Southern/urban populations and Northern/Aboriginal/remote communities in Canada, with the recent water crisis in Kashechewan First Nation being a prime example.

Industrial sewage treatment plants are not a feasible solution for the majority of communities in the Arctic for a variety of reasons—they are extremely expensive to build, maintain and operate, use large amounts of energy and various reactive chemicals, require highly skilled labour, and are not well adapted to functioning in very cold climatic conditions. Geography and small population size are factors that alone make industrial sewage treatment plants an inappropriate wastewater solution for most Nunavut communities.

Because lagoons and constructed wetlands are low-cost, low-maintenance and low-impact technologies, they present a viable wastewater treatment solution for Northern communities. They also have additional advantages, such as the capacity to transfer stewardship of water resources to local residents.

While wetlands have been in use for 10–20 years in many Arctic communities, intensive performance monitoring over all seasons has never been done. Understanding why some wetlands are highly effective at treating regulated parameters may help address performance challenges in other wetlands, such as ineffective treatment for one or more parameter, at particular times in the year, or when sewage input is very high. The data that are collected will be used to develop guidelines for treating wastewater in the North, and could be used by regulatory agencies that currently lack sound data upon which to base regulations.

Further, communities in the North are facing increasing demands from regulators and many levels of government to improve effluent quality, which is straining their limited resources. Understanding social, economic and political factors that affect the capacity of communities to treat their wastewater effectively is also an important part of the project. This research will help shape our training and capacity-building initiatives, and provide useful information to regulators, local leaders and other decision-makers.