Vulnerability of municipal freshwater provisioning in a climate uncertain future: The case of Coral Harbour, Nunavut, Arctic Canada

Abstract

Climate change is likely to be an important factor affecting the ability of Arctic communities to supply freshwater from single-source reservoirs; yet, infrastructure planning and assessment processes rarely take climate change into consideration for needs-based improvements. Here, we assess water quality and quantity from 2021-2022 by examining local water sources in the community of Coral Harbour, Arctic Canada, and identifying potential threats to the provisioning of freshwater. While we did not identify any concerns over water quality through the analysis of samples collected in 2022, we did find that the current reservoir for the community is insufficient to continue provisioning water over a typical planning horizon. We also note that if anomalous climate conditions occur (e.g., extreme temperatures), the exhaustion of the water supply could occur faster than projected. Hydrometric data collected from the river that is used to replenish the reservoir also highlights the response of the river levels to both rainfall and dry periods, and thus qualitatively demonstrate the potential impacts of future episodic late-summer droughts on river water availability, which could affect resupply. These results highlight the need to include climate-based assessment in freshwater infrastructure assessment and planning processes in remote Arctic communities.