"We Get Water Any Way We Can"

Getting water is getting harder in parts of the Hopi Reservation. The water table is going down, partly because of increasing domestic demand. When an area gets less than eight inches of precipitation a year, water supplies definitely limit farming and ranching.

"We get water any way we can," says Dennis Becenti, range conservationist in the Hopi Office of Range Management. He and Matt Livingston, UA Cooperative Extension agent for The Hopi Tribe, are developing a water catchment area at the Oraibi Wash, near Kykotsmovi.

A bulldozer shaped canals in the extremely sandy soil of the large wash. They hope to divert water into 40,000 gallon ponds for cattle herds. Small corn plots nearby also can get some desperately needed water.

Rainfall isn't the only source of water, Becenti says. Melting snow runs off nearby sandstone hills to replenish the ponds from March through the spring season. Monsoons usually start in July and August and provide moisture through the early fall. Then it's dry until it snows again.

"Windmills pick up the slack," Dennis says. About 800 windmills pump water into storage tanks. Both the ponds and windmills require high maintenance, unfortunately. Silt is an ongoing problem and windmill sails must be cared for. In the Oraibi Wash area alone, maintenance requires two crews working eight hours a day.

Also, winds aren't always dependable power sources. New solar-powered rigs Dennis is monitoring could be the answer; they're more efficient and take less maintenance.

Space Age Hopi

Soon Hopi ranchers will know exactly where their cattle have wandered. Soon farmers and ranchers will know exactly where windmills, springs, and wells are located. Soon Hopi Tribal Headquarters in Kykotsmovi will have accurate data and maps available about cultural resources, even in the most remote parts of their reservation-within hours, not weeks.

A state-of-the-art satellite-based Geographic Information System (GIS) will be operating full-scale within six months, says Arnold Taylor, Sr., Hopi director of the Department of Natural Resources. "I'm very proud of The Hopi Tribe leading the pack into the space age."

He gives credit for helping them get started to Philip Guwaletstiwa, a Hopi who retired from NASA and came "back home," bringing his expertise in satellite-assisted global positioning.

After visiting with experts at the University of Arizona (The UA College of Agriculture, in cooperation with the UA College of Science, recently received a half-million-dollar, two-year grant from NASA to build programs for practical use of satellite imagery data.), The Hopi Tribe received funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Reclamation. The U.S. Office of Surface Mining helped set up and test the system.

Taylor states his philosophy: "I want to build Hopi capacity to work with modern technology. I want us to be credible."

Document part of 1999 Native American Programs in the College of Agriculture
Located at http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/general/azlp47-2/water.html
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