Environmental Risk Factors for Bacteriological Contamination in Rural Drinking Water Wells in Samson Cree Nation
Bacteriological contamination of drinking water wells poses a challenge to many rural areas of First Nations communities in Alberta that rely on wells as the primary drinking water source for large proportions of their populations. Here we reviewed available historical data for the Samson Cree Natio...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
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NRC Research Press (a division of Canadian Science Publishing)
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/81301 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjce-2017-0241 |
| Summary: | Bacteriological contamination of drinking water wells poses a challenge to many rural areas of First Nations communities in Alberta that rely on wells as the primary drinking water source for large proportions of their populations. Here we reviewed available historical data for the Samson Cree Nation near Maskwacis, Alberta (formerly Hobbema), to identify linkages between various environmental/historical factors and the risk of contamination by Escherichia coli and total coliform bacteria. Increased bacterial counts were found to be associated with a peak in total precipitation and surface water flow following a two to four month lag period. Wells installed by contractors operating at an earlier period in time were also found to be at greater risk than more recent installations. These findings can be used to characterize better the risk of contamination, which will assist in tailoring remedial actions to address chronic or recurring bacteriological presence in wells. The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author. |
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