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Jon Widney can't help but smile as he talks about the way students studying to be water treatment operators are being taught today. "It would have been an easier learning process, that's for sure," said Widney. Widney is an instructor in the water and wastewater operator program at Yukon University in Whitehorse. That process he's referring to is a new learning tool the university is developing in partnership with the Calgary NGO Water Movement.
Former UCalgary student group and now a nationally registered non-profit organization, Water Movement organized and hosted the inaugural National Indigenous Water Operator Day (NIWOD) on March 21. NIWOD is recognized on March 21, a day before World Water Day, and acknowledges those who treat and bring clean water to Indigenous communities. Water Movement, created by UCalgary students Bita Malekian, Amrita Nag, Kondwani Asefa and Anita Malekian, was awarded third place and a prize of $7,500 at Western University’s World's Challenge Challenge (WCC) global final in 2021 after pitching their unique idea at the UCalgary WCC competition.
When Bita Malekian, BSc (Eng)’18, MEng’21, received her bachelor’s degree from the Schulich School of Engineering, she was inspired by the call to action to, as she says, “use the skills and knowledge I learned to give back to my community.” Since then, Malekian has launched Water Movement (WM), a venture supported by the Calgary Professional Chapter of Engineers Without Borders. The initiative provides a formal platform for Indigenous water treatment operators across Canada to connect, ask questions and access a video library that features tutorials on a wide variety of topics, from managing treatment plants to tips on testing chlorine residue in water.
For most people, this simple routine is so commonplace that we take it for granted. But for 38 Indigenous communities across Canada, this is not the reality. The water they need for drinking, washing and bathing must first be boiled for at least one minute until it is safe to use. “I think water should be the right of all our people, regardless of how many people are living on a certain reserve. If there is an accessible water source then they should be doing what they can to provide potable drinking water for that community,” says Warren Brown, manager of Lytton First Nation O&M Department Operation.
