A Scoping Review of Drinking Water Policies in Indigenous Communities in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia

Abstract

The Indigenous Peoples of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States have faced a shared history of disenfranchisement under settler-colonial paradigms. One consequence of this marginalization has been the widespread deprivation of secure access to safe drinking water in Indigenous communities. To date, much of the literature on Indigenous drinking water access has taken a deficit-based approach, focusing on the factors that are ‘lacking’ in Indigenous communities. Deficit-based approaches have been criticized for perpetuating cycles of negative experiences, fostering dependency within the target community, and leading to interventions that are unsustainable and limited in scope. In contrast, this scoping review used a strengths-based investigation of successful Indigenous drinking water policy in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Through this review of the gray literature published from 2000 to 2024, we identified methods for measuring the success of Indigenous drinking water policies; common features of Indigenous drinking water policies that are said to be successful; and external factors which have been found to contribute to the success of Indigenous drinking water policies. The subsequent thematic analysis revealed a need to leverage the assets within Indigenous communities, drawing upon the strengths inherent to Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural practices, by involving Indigenous Peoples as key stakeholders in the development of drinking water policy. There is an opportunity for policymakers to engage in an iterative process that considers the larger problems we have identified in this review, as well as the community-specific concerns of the Indigenous groups being served.