Indigenous communities in Canada are over-represented with respect to poor water quality and water advisories. To date, approaches to solve this water crisis have been founded in the Western Science (WS) context with little to no consultation or dialogue with those communities most impacted, and without regard for culture. A literature review was undertaken to: (i) document Indigenous Knowledge (IK), and perspectives regarding water and (ii) to identify current local water security tools utilized by Indigenous communities. The aim is to provide sound evidence regarding the value of ownership and leadership by Indigenous communities in the context of current and appropriate resources available to (re)claim these roles. Solutions must remain consistent with, and founded upon, traditional Indigenous worldviews and cultural values to ensure sustainable water security. Literature reviewed from the past ten years revealed one overarching creation theme with three water-specific themes in Indigenous communities; namely, water from natural sources, water as a life-giving entity, and water and gender. Ultimately, there needs to be a new framing of local water security with the development of tools which engage IK and WS in order to assess local water security and appropriately inform interventions, policies, regulations and legislation.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly proposed for effectively and adaptively addressing societal challenges such as water security and natural disasters. However, NBS that are exclusively reliant on natural processes are not fit-for-purpose for the provision of safe drinking water – some range of built technology is required. There is a wide spectrum of techno-ecological NBS – ‘green technologies’ – that are fit-for-purpose in the treatment and distribution of safe drinking water. A framework was developed to enable an accurate and transparent description of the ‘green’ attributes of technology – including green infrastructure – in the water industry. The framework differentiates technology ‘greenness’ by relatively examining key attributes that may cause environmental impacts across the technology's life cycle through the lens of the environmental setting in which it is applied. In the water industry, green technology can be described by four main attributes: natural-resource basis, energy consumption, waste production, and footprint. These attributes are closely linked and must be considered relative to the biophysical and human environments in which they are applied and the other technologies to which they are being compared. The use of the framework can facilitate techno-ecological decision-making that strives to address diverse stakeholder priorities – including the influence of sociocultural factors on the green technology preferences of individuals, groups, or communities.

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The impact of climate change on the environment, particularly water resources, can never be over-emphasized. Therefore, it is imperative to continuously study and understand climate data, especially on a regional...

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