Reclaiming the Gift: Honoring Indigenous Water Knowledge
As a seasoned expert in water and sanitation services, community engagement, and advocacy, I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative power of integrating traditional cultural practices into modern water management systems. In an era of mounting environmental challenges and widening socioeconomic disparities, we have much to learn from the rich tapestry of Indigenous wisdom that has sustained communities for millennia.
The story of my own cultural heritage provides a poignant example. Growing up on the Navajo Nation, my daily routine as a child included running with my father at dawn, praying to the east with our offering, and then running together as the sun rose. During these precious moments, my father would share his knowledge and insights, preparing me for the challenges I would face as a Diné* woman navigating the world beyond our reservation.
*”Diné” means “the people” in the Navajo language, a term that the Navajo nation now prefers over the word “Navajo.”
When my father passed away in 2023, I found myself in the throes of profound grief. Yet, as my culture has taught me, even in our darkest moments, we must strive to maintain balance. I turned to the comfort ceremony, a deeply communal practice where my family and community gathered to pray for me, offer support, and help me through the pain of losing my beloved father.
This ceremony, rooted in Diné traditions, embodied the holistic understanding of health and healing that has been passed down through generations in my culture. My earliest lessons in wellness did not separate the physical, mental, and spiritual realms, but rather recognized the interconnectedness of all aspects of our being. As my maternal and paternal grandfathers, who were both traditional medicine men, taught me, true healing cannot be achieved through a singular approach, but requires attending to the multifaceted nature of the human experience.
“Health is much more than just a physical or biological or physiological construct; there are many more layers to what actually produces health and what outcomes equate to healing, and they’re all important.”
This perspective stands in stark contrast to the Western medical model, which often compartmentalizes health into discrete categories. In my culture, when we seek the counsel of a medicine person, we don’t just share our physical symptoms; we convey the broader context of our lives, our relationships, and our environmental circumstances. The goal is to restore balance – not just within the body, but also in our connections to the natural world and our communities.
“If I harm living entities, that may put me out of balance in the ecosystem because the plants, the trees, the air, the animals, the insects, are all part of our balance—and being out of balance in that way can also affect our physical well-being.”
Tragically, the rich cultural heritage of Indigenous communities like my own has long been under threat. Centuries of disease, genocide, forced assimilation, and displacement have taken a devastating toll, leading to a loss of languages, traditions, and access to ancestral lands and resources. The impact on the health and well-being of Native peoples has been catastrophic, with significantly lower life expectancies, higher rates of chronic disease, and disproportionate vulnerability to emerging threats like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet, despite these immense challenges, Indigenous communities have demonstrated remarkable resilience, and are now asserting their right to self-determination and the preservation of their holistic approaches to health and resource management. By integrating traditional knowledge with Western scientific practices, we are uncovering powerful synergies that can transform the way we address complex, interconnected issues like water access, sanitation, and environmental sustainability.
“Collectively, my colleagues and I are finding strategies to improve health and well-being by bringing together Indigenous holistic medicine practices with Western medicine.”
At my nonprofit organization, United Natives, we have embraced this integrative approach, focusing our efforts on mental health and substance abuse treatment. By offering a combination of clinical services, traditional healing practices, and community-based programming, we are empowering Native clients to reconnect with their cultural identities, reclaim their sense of purpose, and forge pathways to sustainable wellness.
“Many of our patients say that when they come to us, they feel understood in a way that they did not feel in other programs that were not specifically for Native Americans.”
A key aspect of our work involves helping clients rediscover their cultural roots and the deep wells of strength and resilience contained within their ancestral traditions. This includes activities like group smudging ceremonies, where the soothing scent of sacred herbs like sage, sweetgrass, or cedar helps to create a spiritually grounded space for healing. It also involves engaging the services of traditional medicine people, who share stories, perform individual prayers, and guide clients in applying the insights of their cultural heritage to their personal journeys.
“For these people, one or more of those connections either has never been there or has been disrupted, and they have lost connection to themselves. Restoring those connections and pride in cultural identity is important because our communities suffer from a lot of shame associated with stereotypes about Native Americans and the discrimination we have faced.”
Crucially, our approach extends beyond the clinical realm, recognizing the profound importance of cultural practices, traditional knowledge, and a sense of belonging to the well-being of our clients. We provide educational programming to help our community members rediscover their history, understand the systemic challenges they have faced, and envision new pathways for empowerment and self-determination.
“Many Native people do not know our own history because we were not taught it in K–12 public school systems. We have the sense that we are wrong for being who we are and that systems and institutions of the United States are not built to include us, but we don’t know why.”
By centering the voices, perspectives, and lived experiences of Native individuals and communities, we are not only improving mental health and addiction recovery outcomes, but also cultivating a deeper sense of cultural pride, self-efficacy, and community resilience. As our clients reconnect with their heritage and reclaim their rightful place as stewards of the land, they are better equipped to make informed decisions, engage in collective action, and forge a more sustainable future.
“Really, we’re not healing them. They’re healing themselves, using the tools we have given them to bridge the gaps with traditional culture, with language, and with spiritual practices. They have a stronger self-identity, which leads to self-respect, self-efficacy, self-responsibility, and better decision-making.”
The power of integrating traditional knowledge with modern practices extends well beyond the realm of mental health and addiction treatment. Across the globe, Indigenous communities have long employed sustainable water management practices, water-based cultural rituals, and holistic approaches to environmental stewardship that offer valuable insights for addressing contemporary water and sanitation challenges.
In many traditional societies, water is revered as a sacred gift, essential not only for physical sustenance but also for spiritual, cultural, and communal well-being. The Serviceberry, a culturally significant plant for the Potawatomi people, embodies this deep, reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world. As author Robin Wall Kimmerer eloquently describes, the Serviceberry’s abundance is seen as a pure gift, not to be hoarded or exploited, but to be shared in a spirit of gratitude and reciprocity.
“In the presence of such gifts, gratitude is the intuitive first response. The gratitude flows toward our plant elders and radiates to the rain, to the sunshine, to the improbability of bushes spangled with morsels of sweetness in a world that can be bitter.”
This ethic of abundance and sharing stands in stark contrast to the resource-extraction mindset that has come to dominate modern economic systems. By recognizing water, land, and other natural resources as communal gifts to be stewarded, rather than commodities to be exploited, Indigenous communities have developed sophisticated systems of water management, harvest, and distribution that ensure equitable access and long-term sustainability.
“In a gift economy, wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is determined not by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away.”
The insights gleaned from these traditional practices are increasingly being incorporated into water management strategies worldwide. In China, for example, land managers worked collaboratively with local communities to develop regulations for the sustainable harvest of the Ganba fungus, a culturally significant resource that was facing over-exploitation due to rising global demand. By integrating traditional knowledge and practices into the management framework, the communities were able to protect this important resource while preserving their cultural connections.
“Applying traditional harvest techniques may ensure sustainable harvest, and thus support continued cultural connections with harvested species, when global markets lead to increased demand on local resources.”
Similarly, in the southwestern United States, the Emory oak – a culturally vital food source for the Western Apache Tribes – has faced declining populations due to a combination of climate change, livestock grazing, and fire suppression. Recognizing the deep ecological and cultural significance of this species, the Tribes have partnered with the U.S. Forest Service and other stakeholders to launch the Emory Oak Collaborative Tribal Restoration Initiative (EOCTRI), a landscape-scale effort to conserve and revitalize this keystone resource.
“Without this warning from western Apache people, land managers would likely not have identified Emory oak as a conservation concern, since the presence of long-lived adult trees masks risks to this species. Western Apache TEK drove implementation of conservation interventions for this species prior to irreversible decline.”
These examples highlight the immense value of integrating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into modern water and resource management practices. By engaging with local and Indigenous communities, land managers can gain crucial insights into the historical and contemporary dynamics of ecosystems, as well as the cultural significance of particular species and landscapes. This holistic, community-driven approach not only leads to more effective conservation and restoration efforts, but also helps to address longstanding inequities and empower marginalized groups as active stewards of their ancestral lands.
“Engaging local populations in land management decisions has been found to increase buy-in on agreed upon practices, lead to stewardship behavior and reduce exploitation of shared natural resources.”
Of course, the integration of TEK and Western scientific knowledge is not without its challenges. There are often significant cultural differences in the ways knowledge is generated, shared, and valued, leading to misunderstandings and power imbalances. Additionally, the protection of Indigenous intellectual property and traditional ecological practices can be a complex and sensitive issue, requiring careful negotiation and the establishment of clear protocols.
“Reconciling different knowledge types is time-consuming, requires establishing a shared vocabulary, identifying metrics that can be evaluated, and creating a respectful environment for knowledge sharing.”
Yet, despite these obstacles, the potential benefits of this integrative approach are immense. By elevating diverse ways of knowing, respecting Indigenous sovereignty, and fostering collaborative stewardship, we have the opportunity to develop more resilient, equitable, and sustainable water and resource management systems that serve the needs of both people and the planet.
Across the globe, policymakers and land managers are beginning to recognize the urgency and importance of this shift. In the United States, recent executive orders and policy directives have explicitly acknowledged the value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and mandated its integration into federal decision-making processes. This represents a significant step forward, but much work remains to be done to ensure that these commitments are translated into meaningful, lasting change.
“Only in the last few years has the United States begun to formally recognize TEK as a knowledge system as valuable as western science and one to be considered in Federal decision-making.”
As we navigate the complex social, environmental, and economic challenges of the 21st century, the wisdom of Indigenous communities can serve as a vital compass, guiding us towards a future where water, land, and all living beings are honored as sacred gifts to be cherished and protected. By embracing this holistic, community-centered approach, we can harness the transformative power of traditional cultural practices to create more just, resilient, and life-affirming water systems that serve the needs of all.
“Integrating TEK into land management, particularly in the US, could support ecological and cultural health and reduce the likelihood of global change further harming marginalized groups.”
