Great Lakes Region Tribal Water Resources Needs and Volunteer Monitoring Perceptions and Activity

An inquiry of t Great Lakes (Region 5) Tribes water quality specialists and tribal college faculty was conducted to determine the tribes’ water resource needs and their receptiveness to volunteer monitoring programs. The priority water resource issues of the tribes are vast, unique to geographic location and complicated by jurisdictional issues. The desire of each tribe is to provide safe, plentiful and clean drinking water to its community. In addition, the ability to harvest healthy animals and vegetation from the lands allocated to them through treaties is of concern. Complicated jurisdictional issues and bombardment by paperwork needed to fund water monitoring, which requires time away from fieldwork, makes achieving those goals difficult. Each tribe indicated unique concerns involving their water quality, but what remained evident was the idea that collaboration between stakeholders and education for the communities - both tribal and non-tribal - was essential, as most of the issues facing these communities do not adhere to legally determined geographic boundaries. Most tribes in the Great Lakes Region have monitored water for ten years or more. Not all tribes have their own water codes or standards, but they are being developed. Although tribal water quality specialists have little contact with volunteer monitoring programs, they have basic knowledge of what these programs encompass. Those who have had interaction with such programs have expressed interest in continuing to be connected with them. Everyone who was interviewed indicated that volunteer monitoring could be a very useful tool in educating their communities about the larger picture and how different activities affect water quality. The primary ways that they would like to use these programs would be for educating youth and community. Future steps could include facilitating volunteer monitoring in the receptive tribal communities and assisting interested tribes to strengthen community outreach programs.