The quest for clean drinking water at home and abroad
· Toronto Sun
For many Canadians, access to clean drinking water isn’t an issue.
But for others, and for many people around the world, it is.
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With the arrival of World Water Day, here is a look at many aspects of the water story:
What is World Water Day?
World Water Day is an annual observance on March 22 by the United Nations since 1993.
A key point in World Water Day is that 2.1 billion people are living without access to safe water, according to the UN.
Each year’s World Water Day has a specific theme, and in 2026 it is Water and Gender.
“The global water crisis affects everyone – but not equally,” as stated on the UN’s World Water Day website . “Where people lack the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, inequalities flourish, with women and girls bearing the brunt.”
Canadian blessings
“We have very strict municipal drinking water standards in Canada, and relative to the rest of the world or throughout history, we are extraordinarily privileged to have such good drinking water in Canada,” according to Prof. Ronald Hoffman of the University of Toronto.
“This is the underpinning of so much quality of life: we don’t get sick from water much at all, we have ready access to water for all sorts of community and industrial activities without giving it a second thought, it’s very cheap, and the very low illness rate due to water allows us to go about our lives without interruptions from illness (sick days, parents unable to do their work from looking after sick children, etc.). Safe water in Canada is an extraordinary blessing and well worth protecting.”
Canadian challenges
“In Canada, despite being the most freshwater-rich country in the world, over 800 drinking water advisories persist, exposing deep and systemic inequities in basic infrastructure and public health protections,” according to Prof. Sapna Sharma of York University.
“Alarmingly, 35 long-term drinking water advisories are still in effect for 33 communities who have not had access to clean drinking water for over a decade; two-thirds of which affect Indigenous communities.”
Stephanie Gora, from the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University, points out that in northern communities, it is extremely difficult “to build and operate infrastructure in extreme temperatures and with permafrost changes.”
In addition, Canadian communities already harmed by wildfires later have to deal with long-term water challenges . Researchers with the University of British Columbia noted chemicals such as phosphorus entering rivers years after a wildfire, especially when there is flooding.
UV light and a success story
Part of Prof. Hoffman’s research to help provide safe drinking water to low-income and remote communities involves using a natural energy source: The sun.
Electricity from a solar power grid can run an ultraviolet light emitter, and Prof. Hoffman points out that ultraviolet light can very effectively disinfect water, making it safe to drink.
“This shows promise, for the first time, of allowing remote communities to make an affordable one-time purchase of a UV water treatment system that might last, say, 10 years relatively maintenance free, needing only electricity and a car battery,” according to Prof. Hoffman.
Disinfecting water using UV light was a way for Dr. Paul Onkundi Nyangaresi, a postdoctoral researcher at UBC’s faculty of applied science, to help the community in Kenya where he grew up.
According to a UBC news release , Dr. Nyangaresi and UBC assistant professor Dr. Sara Beck worked to provide a village and a nearby school with low-cost, solar-powered UV water treatment systems. The news release also notes that Dr. Beck’s lab is in discussions with Indigenous Services Canada to help Indigenous communities.
“Access to clean water at the school community now provides safe water for cooking, drinking, and washing hands, improving health and allowing more consistent attendance and focus in class,” Dr. Nyangaresi said. “However, this is only one water source, and students still rely on other, often unsafe, sources when they go home, highlighting the need for additional water solutions in the wider community.”
“We had been brainstorming this project for years so it was quite fulfilling to see it completed,” Dr. Beck said. “That said, there are so many different transmission routes for the spread of waterborne diseases in the area and this feels like a drop in the bucket, so to speak.”
World Water Day in Toronto
The Aga Khan Museum, in partnership with York University’s Global Water Academy, is hosting free and ticketed events connected to World Water Day from March 20-22.
On March 22, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., a microplastics discovery station will be set up outside the museum’s education centre. York University scientists are scheduled to be on hand to explain how microscopic plastic particles advance through aquatic ecosystems.