WATER

CARING FOR WATER

We understand Water is a living sacred entity that is the source of health and life. As we take care of our Nations’ needs for clean water, we need to ensure our water rights, develop our unique water usage and water quality policies and programs, and utilize infrastructure choices that care for and heal the lands and ecologies we are responsible to care for.

Curriculum

Caring for Water, English

Caring for Water, Spanish

WATER RIGHTS

Our primary tools to prevent water contamination within our reservations are the establishment of water quality policies, monitoring, and plans within our Nations. In the colonial US, we can apply for Treatment as a State status under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Using this mechanism, Tribes have been able to enforce higher water quality standards than states or cities, as well as expand the vision of caring for water to include the beings that live in and around the water. Our legal protection mechanisms are imperfect to say the least, but through obtaining investment in creating water plans and authorities within our Nations and utilizing the CWA, we can begin to raise the standard of caring for water in not only our Nations, but our extended watersheds.

‘Treatment as a State’ Application and Tribal Water Standards

https://www.epa.gov/wqs-tech/epa-actions-tribal-water-quality-standards-and-contacts

Keepers of the Water

First Nations, Métis, Inuit, environmental groups, concerned citizens, and communities working together for the protection of water, air, land, and all living things within the Arctic Ocean Drainage Basin

https://www.keepersofthewater.ca

RAINWATER HARVESTING

Many of our Nations hold deep knowledge of how to care for, infiltrate, and collect rainwater to provide for our needs. Rainwater can be used for potable (drinkable) water, or non-potable uses such as irrigation, livestock watering, and washing. Collecting rainwater is an excellent, affordable, and simple way of conserving water. Additionally, rainwater is often free of many of the pollutants that affect surface and underground water supplies. Rainwater is typically soft, reducing the need for hardness treatment to preserve your plumbing. Use of rainwater also eliminates the need for chemical treatment and extensive pumping, thus saving energy and use of toxics.

Rainwater Harvesting Resource

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com

Green Infrastructure Guide

https://www.tucsonaz.gov/files/transportation/2006WaterHarvesting.pdf

Rainwater System sizing assistance:

https://www.rainbrothers.com/how-to-size-your-rain-harvesting-system

DIY Culvert Cistern Installation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_budXC3oYU

CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS/GREYWATER SYSTEMS

Natural wetlands are Mother Earth’s way of purifying and renewing the health of water. Constructed wetlands, on large scales, and greywater systems, on residential scales, rely on the cultivation and restoration of diverse watershed ecologies to purify water, and are dramatically more affordable than standard systems. They also create enhanced diversity, wildlife and wetland plant habitat.

Arcata Marsh

City-scale constructed wetland for sewage treatment and ecological restoration

https://www.arcatamarshfriends.org/the-marsh/about-the-arcata-marsh-wildlife-sanctuary/

Tulalip Tribe Stormwater Wetland

https://nwtreatytribes.org/tulalip-tribes-engineer-wetlands-to-treat-stormwater/

Biohabitats

Constructed Wetland system consultants and installers

www.biohabitats.com

Oasis Design

Greywater, ecological design resource

www.oasisdesign.net

Informational Resource for Greywater Systems