Cultivating Water Resilience with Indigenous Peoples in Arid Lands

Managing water resources in arid regions is increasingly important in the face of more frequent droughts and desertification that is occurring with climate change. These challenges of climate change intersect with potential environmental contamination from naturally occurring sources and legacy human activity (such as mining) and create a need for sustainable land and water management planning solutions.  

This project aims to help create sustainability plans by involving and training the community and by making water resource data accessible and available. The project is a collaboration between the University of Arizona Indigenous Resilience Center, the Southwest Research Information Center, and local communities in the Sanders, Arizona area. The project team will 1) collect and compile water information into a comprehensive assessment; 2) train community members to collect groundwater samples and interpret results; and 3) carry out a series of community discussions with residents to discuss water resources information, sustainable land use planning and challenges to water access and affordability.  

Products from this project will include a water assessment (emphasizing water quality), a summary of comments and ideas generated at community meetings addressing the water assessment and improvements to rangeland management, and a list of co-created climate adaptation recommendations for the community.