53 Community Engaged Research for Environmental Sustainability and Community Resilience

We welcome trans-disciplinary submissions with a strong focus on community engagement in research development or implementation, especially research addressing issues of sustainability in water, air quality, land use, energy, climate change, and environmental justice.

Sunday, 19 October 2025
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, 302B

Sustaining Indigenous Life & Culture with Water & Wash

Paper number: 53-22
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 4:46 PM – 5:01 PM

Authors

Abstract

On the Navajo Nation, Indigenous communities suffer from extreme poverty, industrial contamination, and decades-long US governmental policies prohibiting all infrastructure development which have denied access to WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene). Although it is recognized that about 30% of people on the Navajo Nation lack access to clean drinking water, in certain areas, nearly 100% of the population does not have a reliable and safe supply of drinking water.

Our project is a unique partnership between industry, academia, and non-profit organizations involving the coordination of water hauling, rainwater harvesting, and filtration to address the water needs of isolated families on the Navajo Nation.  These efforts are not just facilitating access to a commodity but rather making it possible for a culture to survive.

The families assisted by this project live in remote locations and practice a subsistence lifestyle that has changed little in hundreds of years. Their culture is based on ties to their traditional land, but their ability to remain there is threatened by a lack of access to safe water.  Traditional water sources have been reduced by climate change and often contaminated by uranium, arsenic, or microbial sources.

The solution deployed in this project includes a rooftop rainwater harvesting and filtration system designed by the Water Resources Action Project (WRAP). The DinéWRAPapp is used on phones, tablets, and computers by project participants to record measurements needed to determine if all components of the rainwater system are functioning properly. While the harvesting and filtration systems are low-tech, the families need to follow a multi-step protocol. To make the project sustainable requires earning their trust and integrating them into every part of the process.

Forgotten People (FP), a Diné grassroots organization, has managed community relationships and assisted in the construction.  They have built trust over decades by delivering water, firewood, donating supplies, and providing WASH at cultural gatherings. Students from Navajo Technical University (NTU) and the STAR School helped distribute surveys to identify system recipients. Native American Emergency Relief (NAER) oversaw project implementation and support, ensuring the collaboration of partners toward improved water access and health for Navajo families.

While this work presents unique challenges, a partnership between corporate, academic, and grassroots organizations can transform these challenges into solutions.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412779

© Copyright 2025 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.