Source water protection (SWP) is increasingly seen as effective in reducing the incidence and extent of drinking water crises, yet its facilitation requires certain measures. Canada has one of the most decentralized water governance systems in the world. We sought to understand the experience and impacts of drinking water crises at community and government levels in a decentralized context: the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador through cross-case analysis. We selected our three study communities through a database of media reports in 2014 followed by invitations to community leaders. We used descriptive and qualitative methods, specifically structured interview schedules with both closed-and open-ended questions, and interviewed four community leaders and three provincial government officials. We used NVivo in data analysis, especially in the identification of themes. While government officials defined water crises largely in terms of SWP, this was not the same for communities, whose concern was mainly water access, specifically water shortages. Thus, while the prioritizing of SWP can be useful, the current focus on SWP has the potential to overlook aspects of water security, particularly in some rural and Indigenous communities in Canada. If we envision water security as a ladder representing a hierarchy of needs, some communities are too far down on the ladder to operationalize SWP because their water problems are more extreme.

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This paper describes the fieldwork experience in rural Ghana of a Ghanaian student studying in Canada. It provides a background of self‐reflections that juxtapose the need to pay attention to the researcher's positionality and personality and how that can impact fieldwork and research outcomes. Recognizing that researchers' personalities have received less consideration in geographical qualitative research methodologies, this paper focuses on how both the researcher's positionality and personality can contribute to building rapport and sustaining relationships with the researched. I argue that while researchers' positionalities can influence access to research participants, personal traits form a backbone for building trust and sustaining relationships. I conclude that the research process can be rewarding if a common ground between the researcher and research participants is established. This can be created by building partnerships in the research process.

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