Assessment of water resource vulnerability under changing climatic conditions in remote Arctic communities

Abstract

The influence of environmental change and increased resource demand on freshwater supplies in Arctic Canada emphasizes a critical need to anticipate future freshwater supply capabilities. A paucity of infrastructure and capacity has historically limited efforts to address water resource vulnerability for Arctic communities; therefore, we developed a locally relevant framework that quantifies liquid water volume under varying climate and demand scenarios. We incorporated vulnerability grading standards based on existing indices to assess the viability of single-source water reservoirs. Using municipal demand and meteorological data from the Arctic Canadian hamlets of Igloolik and Sanirajak, Nunavut, we forecasted end-of-winter reservoir volumes for 2022–2035 under a number of scenarios; baseline supply was assessed in relation to system capacity for summer recharge, anomalous seasonal events, and deviations in available ice-free days for recharge. Our assessment indicated that the respective reservoirs were highly responsive to air temperature and ice thickness. Cases of complete reservoir depletion (≤0 % available liquid water) were prevalent across simulated years, whereas normal reservoir conditions (30 ∼ 60 % available liquid reservoir water) were comparatively limited. We found that neither community had sufficient capacity within their current infrastructure for supplying freshwater over a typical planning horizon. Our analysis highlights the need for locally-specific planning related to freshwater supply to ensure sustainable capacity under a variable climate future. Together, our framework and models are an effective tool for assessing water resource vulnerability that can be linked to existing water resource indices to inform municipal planning and mitigation strategies.