November is Native American Heritage Month, and this year Hoosier Environmental Council is highlighting how indigenous people manage water resources. For generations, indigenous communities have been stewarding the land and maintaining robust natural ecosystems, managing populations of fish, forests, fiber, fur, and food.
Today, Native Americans make up 2 percent of the population in the United States, mostly living in western states. Indiana is home to a population of 25,000 Native Americans who come from several different tribes, but two tribal nations, the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi and the Miami Nation, own land and live in Indiana.
Seven Pillars, a cultural site of the Miami, along the Mississinewa River in Peru, Indiana. Image by Susie McGovern
Loss of indigenous knowledge
When Europeans arrived in the United States, they saw an abundance of land and natural resources. They believed they had stumbled upon untouched land and perpetuated the “pristine myth” of early America, a land that was not being or had not been managed by humans in the past.
Because of this widely held belief that seemingly untouched land or intact ecosystems were not being properly managed, land was partitioned, sold, and stolen from tribes, and given predominantly to the settlers. It is estimated that at the time of European contact, there were over 500 different tribal nations, each possessing its own unique culture, language, and government.
Unknown artist’s rendering of an indigenous ceremony at the Great Mound at present day Mounds State Park in Anderson, Indiana. Image by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources
The last few centuries in America have been marked by tremendous losses of natural ecosystems like forests and wetlands to make way for European settlements, which has left a lasting impact on one our most critical resources: water.
Water was drained from wetlands, pipes and ditches were dug to transport water to cities, use for irrigation, and build on previously flooded sites. Dams, levees, and reservoirs were erected to supply water for growing populations. These methods are often considered “western” methods of water management that American society is built upon. While they are effective at conveying and delivering large supplies of water, western methods of water management have led to a reduction in water quality and exacerbate climate threats like flooding and drought.
Water laws in the United States
There are two overarching types of water law in the United States, divided generally by the eastern and western portions of the country. In the west, water is appropriated to whoever puts the water to “beneficial use” first, also known as the prior appropriation doctrine. East of the Mississippi, water follows a riparian rights rule, in which anyone who owns land with water has a right to use it. These laws allow for private parties to make decisions about water by themselves, sometimes without consequences or consideration of the impacts beyond the immediate water source.
Native Americans were forcibly relocated to reservations that still remain today. Many federally recognized tribes live on these reservations, and they have their own unique set of laws and government systems that sometimes intersects with federal water laws in the United States.
Map showing the location of Native American reservations in the United States. Click here for full size image. Image by Bureau of Indian Affairs
Comparing indigenous and western water management
Indigenous people have traditionally managed water resources using a variety of techniques that are similar to modern sustainable water management practices. Those practices are largely based on approaching water management from a nature-based solutions perspective and prioritizing ecosystem protection.
Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is a term that has emerged to describe indigenous management to natural resources. One major example of indigenous water management and TEK is the conservation of ecologically and culturally important species such as the beaver.
Beavers are considered ecosystem engineers because of the role they play in shaping the land and water. Beavers build dams, which creates wetlands, restores floodplains, and provides wildlife habitat. Beavers are experiencing a bit of a revival in their role in managing water, with some researchers demonstrating that beaver landscapes can even protect us from wildfire and droughts. An indigenous approach to water management would therefore be prioritizing and protecting the beaver and its wildlife habitat.
A North American Beaver building a dam. Image by Cascadia Wildlands
An important difference between indigenous and western water management is the cultural belief that water is a sacred resource. Indigenous people traditionally maintain some belief that water is a living being, a friend, an ancestor, and an entity that should be managed with respect.
On the other hand, western water management is focused on data, testing, allocating water resources, and building infrastructure like dams, levees, pipes, drains, reservoirs, and pipelines. The relationship aspect of water is largely absent from western water management unless it is an effort to make water obedient to the infrastructure we build for it, as opposed to letting it flow naturally.
Learning from the past
Even before European colonization of the United States, indigenous civilizations on the American continent, such as the Maya and the Inca, developed advanced systems to manage water resources that balanced human needs and environmental sustainability. For example, the Maya in Guatemala and Central America constructed advanced water management systems, including reservoirs, canals, and terraced fields designed to capture and store rainwater for the agricultural systems.
Similarly, the Inca Empire in Peru built an extensive network of aqueducts, irrigation channels, and underground water storage facilities that supported agriculture in their mountainous Andean homeland, allowing them to thrive in an otherwise challenging environment. These civilizations understood the value of water as both a practical resource and a sacred element, often incorporating it into their religious and cultural practices.
The Maya city of Tikal has famous temples—and also the world’s earliest zeolite-based water filtration system. Image and caption by Science
However, the arrival of European colonizers introduced new forms of resource exploitation and mismanagement that disrupted these delicate water systems. The Europeans’ disregard for indigenous land and water management methods, combined with the overexploitation of natural resources, led to environmental degradation.
In the case of the Maya civilization, centuries of warfare, deforestation, and over-extraction of water contributed to the collapse of civilization, as they could no longer sustain their water supply during periods of drought. Similarly, the Inca Empire, which had thrived on its sophisticated irrigation techniques, suffered after Spanish colonization.
The Inca’s intricate water systems were neglected, and large-scale mining operations, which demanded significant water resources, put additional strain on the environment. The collapse of these civilizations can thus be partly attributed to the breakdown of their water management systems—both through environmental overuse and the disruption of their traditional practices under European rule. This loss of sustainable water management has had lasting consequences, affecting the water security of much of the Americas well into the present day.
It is evident that the mismanagement of our water resources can led to very real problems, like poor water quality, lack of water supply, and eventually, societal collapse. That is why it is critical to recognize and utilize both approaches to water management because our society is dependent on them. Western water management can provide us with the technical foundation for action, while indigenous water management allows for cultural expression, restores our relationship with the land, and ensures that we balance our water uses sustainably. Native Americans and indigenous people across the world have been paving the way and holding on to these ancient tools for sustainable water management, and it is about time that we get on board.
Authors/contributors: Susie McGovern, Maria Jose Iturbide-Chang