Scientific Research
Dr. Hans had many discussions with First Nations water treatment plant operators, public works managers, and Chiefs and Councilors even before he started working on trying to fix Yellow Quill's raw water. The same question surfaced time and time again, how can poor quality raw water sources be made safe to drink? This was never about meeting any guidelines, it was about the ability of community members to drink the treated water without getting sick.
So, Dr. Hans studied the scientific literature and tried to figure out the characteristics of truly safe drinking water. While going down this road, Dr. Hans wrote several scientific papers that then formed a background for him and the water treatment plant operators who worked with him. This was leading towards the Integrated Biological and Reverse Osmosis Membrane (IBROM) treatment process.
Here we are reproducing some of the scientific papers that Dr. Hans wrote during this period.
Water Online
Water Online is a website that comments on drinking water treatment globally. Dr. Hans is commenting on and writing articles for Water Online.
Prince Albert Grand Council Tribune
Dr. Hans Peterson wrote a series of articles on drinking water in First Nations communities. These articles ran in consecutive issues of the Prince Albert Grand Council Tribune.
Canadian Water Treatment
ReNew Canada
Aboriginal Times
Aboriginal Times was a native magazine. Dr. Hans was asked to write articles that would raise the awareness of the issues surrounding poor quality drinking water. Dr. Hans wrote articles for Aboriginal Times from January/February 2005 until May/June 2007. Dr. Hans was also asked to point the way to how water could be treated to achieve much better quality than was previously thought possible.
After almost two years of research and piloting at Yellow Quill First Nation Dr. Hans had developed a keen understanding of the issues and had also, with help from First Nations water treatment plant operators, generated novel solutions to difficult water treatment problems. The first award for this work was recognition in 2005 at the United Nations’ headquarters where Dr. Hans and Yellow Quill’s lead operator at the time, Roberta Neapetung, presented the development of the IBROM process (the Integrated Biological and Reverse Osmosis Membrane process).
Yellow Quill’s water, which was under a nine year boil water advisory, was transformed into some of the best drinking water in the world by the IBROM beating every guideline/regulation globally.
The IBROM process is being embraced by First Nations, especially in Saskatchewan. There are now 18 IBROM water treatment plants in Saskatchewan and Alberta. By learning more about drinking water and drinking water issues you may be able to help your community along the path to better quality water. We hope that you will find information in Dr. Hans’ articles useful. We feel that a lot of the issues Dr. Hans wrote about in his articles are as relevant now as they were when he wrote them.
