Access and Use of Water in Greenlandic Settlement Housing

Abstract

Access to clean water is necessary for habitation and communal life. Ensuring equal access to drinking water, hygiene, and sanitation is enshrined in Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals. In rural Arctic areas, water infrastructure is prohibitively expensive due to the environmental and technical challenges presented by the geography, climate, and remote nature of communities. Therefore, in Greenlandic settlements, water is provided to residents at common taphouses and service houses, rather than through piped connections to installations inside the home. The additional effort and work required to gather water is reflected in reduced per capita consumption of water, which has been linked to the proliferation of water-washed diseases that spread due to poor hygiene.

Housing in Greenland was centralized under Danish control in the early 20th century to address the unsafe conditions of existing housing that enabled the spread of tuberculosis between and among overcrowded dwellings. However, water, sewer, and energy infrastructures developed at a slower pace, and many rural settlement communities still lack water and sewer connections to homes. In the settlement of Itilleq in Western Greenland, residents haul treated water to their homes from common taphouses. The journey from the taphouse to the home can be treacherous and exhausting depending on terrain, weather, and physical capability of the resident.

This thesis aims to address research questions surrounding the habits, processes, and tools used by residents to haul water to their homes, in order to gather insights for the design of handwashing stations. Additionally, the research aims to analyze how homes are designed to facilitate the storage and usage of water, in order to form recommendations for renovation strategies. Research was conducted through literature review, floorplan analysis, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, surveys, and observations. In semi-structured interviews, residents described their current practices surrounding processes of hauling, storing, and using water inside their homes. Questionnaires and surveys targeted quantitative data surrounding the frequency of water hauling, the storage place of water containers, and the use of wash basins for handwashing.

Findings indicate that residents face many challenges hauling water, wish that the process were easier, and feel that their complaints are ignored. Wash basins were found to be used in kitchens and restrooms, but are more commonly used in kitchens, and are used for a variety of tasks including handwashing and cleaning kitchenware. Water storage containers are kept both inside, which can promote bacteria growth, and outside, which risks freezing temperatures. Design recommendations include handwashing station features that reduce the volume of water needed, filter out solid food waste, and are able to be placed in a kitchen or restroom. Renovation recommendations include discrete storage areas along the gradation of interior to exterior for water storage containers and the utilization of tanks to hold additional water.