Water Quality Issues facing Indigenous Peoples in North America and Siberia

Abstract

Contaminated water is a problem of global concern that disproportionately affects many Indigenous communities. This study focuses on water-quality issues facing two Indigenous communities - the Altaian people of Central Siberia, and the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Northeastern Kansas. Information was collected about each community's water resources and cultural attitudes towards them through a series of interviews and quantitative water-quality tests. Results revealed similar attitudes and reverence for water resources in both communities, and that both communities have defined protocols for their interactions with water resources. Each community is facing threats to their water quality from different sources of pollution, and may benefit from a community-based water-quality monitoring program to better inform them of their water quality.