Accessing Safe Drinking Water: A Citizen Perspective

on the Role of Science in a Contentious Issue Providing all people with access to safe drinking water is one of the central problems of our times, especially in less developed countries. However, even in developed countries such as Canada, accessing safe drinking water may be difficult. In this case study, we articulate how scientific and technological expertise and discourse are played out against local knowledge and water needs to prevent the construction of a watermain extension that would provide local residents with the same water that others in the community already access. We conclude that (a) there is a lack of solidarity and distributive justice and (b) science education ought to change such that individuals may be empowered to fend for their rights even against scientific and technological expertise. Accessing safe drinking water 3 Our (post-)modern world becomes increasingly complex, not in the least because of the changes to scientific knowledge and technological artifacts that pervade our lives. Science and technology are deeply enmeshed with personal and public issues (Latour 1993; Restivo 1988), particularly those relating to sociotechnical controversies such as mad-cow or foot-and-mouth disease, AIDS, climate change, or the diffusion of genetically modified organisms. It is not surprising that there is an increasing public awareness of the ethical, practical, and political dimensions that characterize th