Manuel Rodriguez from the Canadian Université Laval did a research work with vulnerable and remote communities in Colombia. In a Raconte-moi un terrain article produced by the World Regions Cities Network gives answers in an interview entitled “Access to drinking water: a challenge for vulnerable communities in Colombia”.
Manuel and his team are working not only on problems of access to drinking water in these communities, but also on problems of access to and protection of water sources. The interview was done by Melina Marcoux.
You have conducted research on drinking water management in British Columbia. Could you describe the context and objectives of this work?
At the beginning of my chair in drinking water, most of the research was done in Quebec, Newfoundland and British Columbia. Then, with the creation of North Sentinel (1), we were led to work on projects involving small communities in northern Canada, particularly those in Nunavik, which are geographically very remote and have all kinds of socio-economic, environmental and climatic vulnerabilities. These projects forced us to adapt research methods that were very different from those we were used to using in contexts where the vulnerability of the population was not as great and where access to drinking water was not a major problem. Over time (and through partnerships), the Chair team has developed a strong interest in research conducted in collaboration with vulnerable communities. For example, three years ago, partnerships were established with Colombian universities, the main one being with the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia (UCC), to work with vulnerable communities in Colombia on issues of access to drinking water. In this sense, I have developed a new axis within the Chair, which focuses more on research carried out in developing countries and involving vulnerable communities. Initial financial support to launch these projects came from the VRM, the FAAAD (Faculty of Planning, Architecture, Art and Design of Laval University), the MRIF (Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie), the CentrEAU (Centre québécois de recherche sur la gestion de l’eau) and the NSERC-Foncer programme.
In 2022, when the pandemic made it possible, we organised our first trip to Colombia with 16 members of the Chair, including students, post-docs and researchers. Specifically, we went to meet communities in the Andes. It was a real two and a half week trip. I undertook this project out of personal interest, being of Colombian origin myself, but also because I already had contacts in Colombia who could act as partners, welcoming us and helping us with our work. In short, contacts that made it all possible! Involving the students in our work, taking them into the field with us, has been a very formative experience for them. They gain knowledge with an experiential flavour that goes beyond what they can learn in a university course, all in a safe, supervised environment. Wanting to make this experience sustainable, I eventually set up a three-week summer school in Colombia with a colleague from the University of Victoria. Participating students are invited to visit a number of sites where we work, in regions ranging from 200 to 4,200 metres above sea level. These regions often contain ecosystems that are very different from those they are familiar with. It has to be said that our study sites are being exacerbated by the effects of the El Niño and La Niña climate phenomena. These phenomena cause extreme and sudden climatic changes that cause widespread damage and affect access to water. In this context, our work focuses not only on issues of access to drinking water, but also on issues of access to and protection of water sources.
Over the years, we have established new partnerships with Colombian universities that have led to the development of a number of research projects involving our students. In fact, it is the involvement of our students that makes these projects possible. In this context, there is a real tandem between research and education!
What methodological approaches do you use in your work?
First of all, it’s important to involve the local communities from the beginning. To do this, we set up all sorts of information and exchange activities with community leaders, local researchers and partners to present our ideas and our research protocol (what we want to do, how we want to do it, our needs for support in the process, etc.). The communities will also be the first to know about the results of our research. It goes without saying that we will not reveal the results of our research before the communities we are studying have been informed.
In order to carry out our research projects, one of the first steps is to take stock of the access and quality of water available in a community. We do this by sampling the quality of the water available from source to tap. We then document usage habits (what households use it for, what they think of the quality of the water, etc.), for example by interviewing households directly using a questionnaire on an electronic tablet. Interactions last about thirty minutes per household and are conducted in Spanish. In most cases, vulnerable or remote communities use local dialects, making the use of interpreters unavoidable. The data collected allows us to assess and document the level of exposure of the population to the contaminants present in the available water, and whether households in these communities have access to water of sufficient quality to live adequately. In this way, we can analyse the risks.
Our analyses need to take into account a range of factors specific to vulnerable communities that affect the level of risk. For example, access to resources inevitably affects habits: people who have access to wood boil their water before drinking it, while those who do not have the means to boil water have to accept exposure to the contaminants it contains. Each community has its own problems: sometimes the water source is very good, but the existing water treatment system is not operated properly, sometimes it is the inhabitants themselves who do not handle the water they have access to properly…
Were there any elements of this field experience that you did not expect? What were the barriers or opportunities?
Because we work with vulnerable communities, often very poor ones like the Palafitos in the Ciénaga de Santa Marta region of Colombia, field research is far from easy. Where it exists, access to the internet and electricity can be very unreliable, as can mobile phone connections. When it comes to water quality, there are all sorts of protocols that need to be followed to analyse it. The protocols are subject to significant time constraints. For example, when you take a water sample, you have to keep it refrigerated until you do the analysis, otherwise the sample will be damaged. As you can imagine, all of this is complex to manage when working in hot, humid environments where access to electricity is not universal. We inevitably have to adapt our protocols and choose our analysis parameters carefully to be able to assess water quality in these conditions. What’s more, working internationally in remote and vulnerable communities involves a whole safety protocol for our students. The fact remains that the poverty of the communities we work with is inevitably distressing. In the field, we are directly exposed to the social, economic and human issues facing these communities. While these realities are very confronting, seeing them with our own eyes makes us fully aware of the importance of the privileges we enjoy on a daily basis, and this is very formative for our students.
To carry out our research effectively, we need to develop a strong relationship of trust with local people. Because we work with small, remote and inaccessible communities, local people are often suspicious of outsiders from the start. They may be reluctant to talk to us, for example, because they think we are trying to sell them water treatment systems, or that we are simply tourists who have come to enjoy the beauty of the area. When we arrive, we must always make our intentions clear. It is also important to build relationships with local people, as they often know the study sites better than the research team. For example, to access a water source, one partner once advised us to go with people who could clear a path with machetes. He knew immediately that there was no path leading to the sampling site where we wanted to go. It would have been impossible for us to get the information any other way.
Working with local partners is also very important to the success of our projects. Recently, our partners invited us to visit the Palafittic communities living in the inland and salt water areas of northern Colombia. This visit led to a research project that is currently underway with communities that live on the coast and have no direct access to a fresh water source. We discovered a whole local system that allows residents to access water. Some households travel long distances in small boats to freshwater sources and convert their boats into reservoirs. The water collected is then brought back to the communities to be sold to residents who store it in domestic tanks. As you can imagine, this water is often contaminated.
All in all, it takes a lot of motivation and energy to do research abroad, especially if you are interested in people living on the outskirts of cities. In particular, you have to be prepared to make several return trips to the field, which requires a certain amount of availability and time. The procedures for obtaining grants to fund this type of project are long and complex, requiring extensive administrative procedures with foreign institutions. It’s important to remember that most Canadian funding agencies primarily fund research that leads to discoveries in Canadian waters. When I write grant proposals, I try to demonstrate that our research is actually knowledge transfer, in other words, that we are testing and applying methods developed here elsewhere in the world. I think there are benefits for Canada and for Quebec. All the more so because, as I mentioned earlier, these projects carried out elsewhere contribute in a very special way to the training of the next generation of Quebec and Canadian researchers.
Can you draw some general observations from this experience?
From the beginning, we have seen in the field that the needs of the communities are immense. The results of the projects carried out so far in Colombia prove the relevance of conducting research in these communities. The work we have been able to do also shows that there is always a way to adapt research protocols developed in Quebec to other places, however remote they may be. Of course, there are always limitations of all kinds (geographical, economic, etc.), but in the end it is always possible to adapt our initial plans, our research protocols, to bring our projects to a successful conclusion.
During my recent travels in South America, I visited several of Colombia’s neighbours, such as Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru and Costa Rica, where the effects of climate change are being keenly felt. By progressively establishing agreements with other universities, we are able to gain access to a growing number of research areas and resources, allowing us to broaden the scope of our research. Through these international meetings, I’ve realised the strength of the network: by working together, we can help more communities!
What I find most motivating about research projects conducted internationally and in vulnerable communities is the opportunity to conduct original research that will have a real impact on communities. Beyond basic research, we are making discoveries that will provide tangible help to communities living in very precarious and difficult situations. What’s more, the results of our research will have a real impact on the daily lives and living conditions of the communities. Finally, our student researchers are heavily involved in these projects! It’s all very gratifying!
(1) Transdisciplinary research programme on the environment, health and innovation in the North. Sentinelle Nord brings together a vast research network of more than 40 Université Laval departments.
