Creating Water Resiliency on the Navajo Nation

Ryan T. Barton is a hydrologist at the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources’ Water Management Branch in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Mr. Barton works on water monitoring and inventory projects, water/wastewater projects, and wherever he can provide his technical support. He is also a proud cat dad to Lettie who is a lovely calico, and granddaughter, Yvaine, a feisty flame point kitten. He has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.

Navajo Nation Water Management Branch

Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission

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Science Moab speaks with Ryan Barton, a hydrologist working for the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources Water Management Branch in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Ryan’s unique skills lie not only in the science of hydrology, but in collaboration and negotiation within communities across the Navajo Nation to address water issues.

Four years ago, Ryan stepped into the lead role on the Westwater Drinking Water Project, a decades-long initiative which, as of this spring, successfully brought clean drinking water to every household in Westwater, Utah. 

Science Moab: The Westwater project, focused on bringing drinking water to the community of Westwater (west of Blanding), for the first time. Could you describe the process that led to that project’s completion?

Barton: When people think of the Navajo Nation, they see a boundary, for some reason. Maybe they might think: ‘oh, this is only where Navajo people live.’ But no, we live outside of those boundaries, and other places historically. There was a group of Navajos who were living west of the town of Blanding, Utah and at that time it was BLM land, but the BLM realized it probably would look really bad if they kicked Navajo people off of some of their land.

So, what ended up happening was the Navajo Nation purchased [those] 120 acres back in 1986. At that time, people were moving in and out. It was a community, and it wasn’t until maybe 2010, I believe, that Westwater became a subdivision recorded with the San Juan County recorder.

Westwater residents were made to work with the city of Blanding to get a waterline extension [to bring running water to the community], but that didn’t work for a long time, for many reasons. Cooperation between both parties just wasn’t there for a waterline extension. That started over 25 years ago. 

So we were trying to find ways to get water to the Westwater community, but before we could drill a deep, we needed a three phase electric line to power the pump. Then over time, and further conversations with the city of Blanding, they eventually agreed for a waterline extension. 

Science Moab: What was your role in this project?

Barton: I had monthly meetings for the past couple years with a large group of people from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the State of Utah, the City of Blanding, Tribal Utility Authority (TUA), and later on, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office; just a huge group of people trying to work through these issues.

I worked with all the partners to get to a consensus. Basically, I became a really good cat herder. In addition to that, I also held monthly meetings with the Westwater community to work with them too, [on tasks like the] steps that they needed to take to get a homesite lease issued through the land department.

TUA requires people to have a homesite lease before they will provide utility services to them. So up to that point, when I took over the project from the Department of Water Resources, they still hadn’t received their homesite leases. And one of the hurdles was that Westwater residents  didn’t have their individual lots legally surveyed.

We were able to work with the organization nonprofit Dig Deep, and they provided funding to the Utah Navajo Trust Fund to have the [residents’] lots legally surveyed. From there, we could begin to move forward.Some of the funding provided to the Navajo TUA was used to put together a preliminary engineering report. This was like a catalyst for a project that was just lingering, and they were instrumental in getting people to believe that this can be done.

Once you start to build that momentum, more organizations have a reason to join in and to contribute more. So we approached [getting electricity to the homes] first, then we moved onto getting [running] water. So there’ve been a lot of contributions from many entities to get to this point in the project.

Science Moab: It sounds like a lot of your work was coordinating between all these different entities, trying to get some kind of a resolution that everyone could live with.

Barton: Yes, that’s true. Also, working to find funding between the many different partners. There are all these little steps that you have to go through to get where you want to be,  so I was working with all the groups and keeping everyone together and focused.

Science Moab: What other challenges do you see facing the Navajo Nation in terms of water and water supply?

Barton: 30 to 40% of people on the Navajo Nation don’t have access to running water, so that’s one of the larger challenges that we are looking to address. I think 80% of the running water on the reservation comes from well water. We’re hoping to use more surface water, but that gets into the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement that has been introduced, which would need to be passed by Congress and signed by the President.  If that settlement is approved, it would provide a more resilient water system that’s not solely focused on groundwater, but also surface water from the San Juan River. 

What I’ve learned from these projects—especially the water development projects I’m working on—is understanding the importance of collaboration among so many groups of people. And especially now, water is a huge issue, and we can fight about it or we can work together. It’s a lot of work, and you’re not always going to agree on everything, but if you negotiate, you can get to something that works for all.