Unlike the definition of what a water advisory is, why water advisories happen is not a clean-cut answer. Various factors, from land exploitation to industrial pollution, has led to the contamination of water sources and devastation of communities. Regardless of the events that preceded contamination, the effects are enduring and affect generations of Indigenous peoples.

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Grassy Narrows First Nation

Briefly mentioned in a previous section, the community of Grassy Narrows First Nation has been under a drinking water advisory since 2013 (Nadeem et al., 2018). Their advisory is under “do not consume” which makes up a very small fraction of total advisories in comparison to “boil water”. The water system was contaminated throughout the 1960s and 1970s when a mill located upstream in Dryden, Ontario began disposing of mercury-containing industrial effluent by dumping it into the river (Prokopchuk, 2018)

Shoal Lake 40 First Nation

The community of Shoal Lake 40 has been under a boil water advisory for the past 20 years (Lorraine, 2016). Putting this into perspective, people in this community have gone without clean water for my entire lifetime. The advisory is a direct result of the construction of Winnipeg’s water supply system in the early 1900s. The system ensures a clean supply of water is directed to the city while bypassing Shoal Lake 40. The exploitation of this natural resource has been the subject of many debates which highlight the government’s failure to abide by treaties that commit to water preservation.