(In Navajo)
How do you channel water to use it?
There are various ways to do this.
There is water for livestock, for humans and for plants.
There are various ways that water is used by different sources.
There was a time when there was no piped water
and at that time you could channel water with trenches.
Channeling the water way was done by shovel, digging and trenching.
You could bring the water to the field
or you could also channel the water to livestock.
Water could be pooled to create earth dams.
When there is little rain it is difficult to channel and use water.
With little rainfall the the wind creates sand dunes
filling the landscape.
Although there may be water available through water infrastructure
drought can lower the water tables and you lose access to water.
In these times of drought in the environment
and existing water infrastructure it creates hardship.
Drought creates hardship for accessing water.
Tó éí ííná
which can be translated into meaning
"Water is life."
A mentality of "water is life" is fundamental in
sustaining the way of life by the Navajo Nation and
for the Navajo people.
The lifestyle of the Navajo people still heavily
consists of agricultural practices,
owning livestock, and hauling water.
Due to frequent droughts,
this lifestyle is impacted.
The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American
reservation in the United States.
The reservation is approximately 27 thousand square miles, an area that reaches into
three states which are New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.
Drought conditions influence the pattern of water availability found on the Navajo Nation
which can be linked to the domestic water supply, livestock
agriculture and cultural and spiritual well-being.
Two members of NASA's Applied Sciences Program,
Dr. Cindy Schmidt and Dr. Amber McCullum learned
more about the drought issues being experienced
on the Navajo Nation. While on a visit to the reservation,
they took the opportunity to meet with the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources personnel.
As a result of this visit came the development
of a two-term internship project in 2015,
which established the relationship and connection
between NASA and the Navajo Nation.
Dr. Schmidt and Dr. McCullum continued to help build
other NASA relationships with the Navajo Nation.
One such relationship resulted in the DEVELOP Ames
Navajo Nation Climate 1 and 2 teams.
These teams created the Drought Severity Assessment Tool 2.0.
Following the DEVELOP project, NASA's Western Water Applications Office
created the Drought Severity Evaluation Tool, otherwise
known as DSET. DSET was co-developed with the
Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources,
NASA's Western Water Applications Office, and the
Desert Research Institute, as a spinoff of
Climate Engine to create on-the-fly maps, time series
and much more.
The co-development partnership relationship resulted
in a partner-driven, user-friendly tool.
The DSET development relationship engagement
continued with Carl McClellan of the Navajo Nation
Department of Water Resources water management
branch and Dr. Amber McCullum of NASA's Western
Water Applications Office.
Along with other personnel who took on the tool
development to include the Navajo Nation rain gauge data,
satellite data, model data sets, and drought and vegetation indices.
<> The Drought Severity Evaluation Tool created for
the Navajo Nation will not answer all questions
This tool is intended to help alongside other tools and resources
and be an additional resource for research.
Using this tool will help the work in assessing the environment
DSET will be used to study the impacts of drought on the environment.
DEST can also study the vegetation health in relation to livestock
grazing and will be able to study the land used for agriculture.
The use of this tool provides great insight into further research
to help make informed policy-making decisions for the Navajo Nation.