Get Involved
To gather information that will help determine options for regulating water quality in First Nations communities, the expert panel is holding informal hearings across Canada this summer and accepting written submissions up to August 31, 2006.
The panel would like to hear from people with field experience in running and regulating water and wastewater systems and with the authorities governing them. This would include, for example:
- First Nations governments;
- Public works managers in First Nations communities;
- Water and wastewater operators, particularly in First Nations communities;
- First Nations technical services groups;
- Relevant departments and agencies of provincial and territorial governments; and
- Others with experience in managing, overseeing and regulating water and wastewater systems in small communities.
Aspects of water quality that could be covered by regulation include source water protection, training and certification of operators, drinking water quality, effluents, treatment, testing, wells, health protection, emergency preparedness, and plant and system design.
Those making presentations or preparing a written submission should focus on any of the following questions:
- What should be regulated?
- For areas that might be regulated, what standards should be used?
- What legal framework should be used - First Nations, federal, provincial, territorial?
- What roles should various governments play in implementing the framework?