Doing it Better! Practitioner Insights to Enhance KTT for Private Water Wells

Climate change events are increasingly impacting the groundwater-based private wells upon which many agri-food systems rely. Consequently, enhancing groundwater extension efforts have never been more important because conventional approaches have had limited success. This highlights the need for new approaches to better engage with an increasingly diverse rural community. Transdisciplinary community-based research (TCBR) is an innovative approach for engaging and collaborating with community-based organization (CBO) representatives. TCBR shows promise for promoting engaged collaboration with CBOs to co-develop knowledge The purpose of this research is to use a TCBR to co-develop solutions with CBOs that help private wells owners better protect their water supplies in Ontario, Canada. Objectives include: 1) To update groundwater extension materials, and translate them into multiple languages for online sharing in collaboration with The Groundwater Project; 2) To evaluate TCBR as an approach to enhance sharing technical innovation with a diverse rural community. To execute the TCBR approach, the research was co-designed with CBOs. Qualitative research methods used include focus group discussion (in-person and virtual), a hybrid workshop, and semi-structured interviews. Preliminary findings include insights from research contributors concerning the process and timing of TCBR, multi-modal delivery of KTT, the importance of leveraging existing and new CBO partnerships, and tying evaluation to engagement metrics. CBO representatives have also identified gaps and barriers, and preliminary recommendations for researchers, government, and future KTT research. Theoretically, a TCBR approach shows promise for engaging with CBO representatives to better understand community needs. Practically, involving CBO representatives will help increase the accessibility and inclusivity of KTT resources for diverse rural communities.