Canada's Water Crisis: Canada's Dirty Little Secret

Types of Advisories

Just in case you don't already know, I'm going to go over the different types of water advisories.

Water advisories are issued when a communities water isn't safe to use/consume.

There are 3 types of water advisories that can be issued on reserves. These advisories are called boil water advisories, do not consume advisories, and do not use advisories. I will also be discussing the difference between long term and short term advisories.

For the most part I am referring to tap water exclusively, but some reserves can't use the bottled water from their area either.

Boil Water Advisories

This type of advisory is the most common type of advisory on First Nations reserves.

Reserves under this type of advisory are advised to boil water before use or consumption.

This advisory is issued when the water on the reserve is contaminated with contaminants that can be boiled away to become safe for use. 

This means that people living under this advisory have to boil water before they drink it, brush their teeth, wash clothes, shower, use for cooking, wash hands, and more.

Do Not Consume Advisories

Reserves under this type of advisory are advised to not consume the water.

What makes this advisory different from boil water advisories is the water is contaminated with contaminants that cannot be boiled away such as lead.

Communities under do not consume advisories cannot use their tap water for everyday activities such as cooking, brushing teeth, consumption, feeding pets, and more.

Do Not Use Advisories

These advisories are the most extreme of all these previously mentioned. Do not use advisories are issued when the water is seriously contaminated and should not be used for whatever reason. 

Some possible causes for this advisory being issued is a chemical spill or the tap water contains serious pollutants that cannot be boiled away.

Communities under this type of advisory cannot use their water for drinking, bathing, washing hands, cooking, cleaning, and more.

Long Term Advisories

This advisory is not a specific type of advisory and instead is a measure of how long an advisory has been in place for.

Long term advisories are any type of advisory that has been or is expected to be implemented for more than a year.

Short Term Advisories

This advisory is not a specific type of advisory and instead is a measure of how long an advisory has been in place for.

Short term advisories are any type of advisory that has been or is expected to be implemented for less than a year.

Most advisories start off as short term advisories and either are removed or morph into long term advisories. It's hard to figure out how many short term advisories are currently in place because the government either doesn't record this information or it isn't accessible to the public.