{"id":453262,"date":"2021-08-24T07:21:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T14:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=453262"},"modified":"2022-03-28T15:06:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T22:06:56","slug":"expediting-navajo-nation-water-relief","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/expediting-navajo-nation-water-relief","title":{"rendered":"Expediting Water Relief for the Navajo Nation"},"author":7652,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14832],"tags":[338472,160522,271,279132],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478372],"esri_blog_department":[478202],"class_list":["post-453262","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-water-resources","tag-engineering","tag-health","tag-mapping","tag-water","esri-blog-category-water","esri_blog_department-infrastructure"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"An enterprise GIS approach fueled workflows to increase safe water access on the Navajo Nation while keeping people informed about progress.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"The adoption of enterprise-scale GIS technology fueled a collaborative push by the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Indian Health Service and partners to address deficiencies in safe water access on the Navajo Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.\r\n\r\n<strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Navajo Nation successfully used GIS to identify locations where increased water access was needed and complete the design and construction of new water distribution points.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps engineers, environmental health officers, and Navajo area civil servants spread out to map water needs and prioritize projects to homes.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The pandemic fostered a new collaboration between tribes, federal agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In April 2020, as the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact were becoming readily apparent, Commander Ryan Clapp, a staff engineer with the Indian Health Service (IHS), flew to Albuquerque. Upon arrival he bought eight pay-as-you-go cell phones from a retail store and loaded data collection apps on them.\u00a0Within 48 hours he had a team of Navajo Area IHS technicians spread out to map water access points on the Navajo Nation using the mobile devices.\r\n\r\nWhile he was in the air, IHS headquarters staff were developing a comprehensive field survey, talking to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, and doing all the background work. \u201cWe were building things as we were going, and it was moving very fast,\u201d said Captain Ramsey Hawasly, assistant director, Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction at IHS and lead GIS program coordinator.\r\n\r\nThis rapid response was requested by the Navajo Nation president due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. At the time the Navajo tribe was experiencing the highest incidence of COVID-19 cases in the United States, and the long-standing lack of in-home water access was assumed to be a driver of these infections.\r\n\r\nThe heightened need for handwashing during the pandemic posed a challenge for the many homes without water. For many years, the rugged topography and remoteness of the Navajo Nation made piping water to homes challenging. Since 2003, IHS and a network of partners have reduced the number of Navajo homes without water access from 30 percent to 20 percent. New funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided the Navajo Area IHS with $5.2 million, targeted specifically to increasing water access on the Navajo Nation."},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[453592,453532,453552,453562]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The IHS team used a geographic information system (GIS) to map and share construction progress on new water access locations. Many are at or near chapter houses, which serve as county-level governments.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe were able to collect data in all 110 chapters with just six surveyors, covering an area the size of West Virginia in just two weeks,\u201d said Captain David Harvey, deputy director, Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction at IHS.\r\n<h3><strong>Immediate Short-Term Actions to Improve Water Access<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThrough the GIS data collection efforts, the CARES Act funds supported the installation of 59 new transitional water point (TWP) connections to existing public water systems; supplied 37,000 water storage containers; distributed 3.5 million water disinfection tablets (where needed); and subsidized the water for people living in homes with no piped water through February 2023.\r\n\r\nThe data that Commander Clapp and the team collected was critical in identifying locations for needed facilities. It set in motion additional mobile work to design each access point, calculate construction costs, and place orders for the right amount of pipe needed to make new connections."},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[453602,453582,453572]},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<h2><strong>Building the Capacity to Act Together<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nJust four months prior to the start of the pandemic, IHS implemented technology that a group of GIS advocates had been excited to put into action for four years. This group took a change management class to learn how to prepare colleagues for significant process change.\r\n\r\n\u201cLuckily, we were already moving in the enterprise GIS direction before the pandemic hit,\u201d said Captain Shari Windt, engineering consultant, Environmental Health Support Center at IHS. \u201cWe installed <a href=\"https:\/\/enterprise.arcgis.com\/en\/portal\/latest\/administer\/windows\/what-is-portal-for-arcgis-.htm\">ArcGIS Enterprise<\/a> portal in 2019 and had been working to gain energy behind it.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Navajo Water Project provided the opportunity to push digital workflows to the field using a suite of ArcGIS apps\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/survey123\/overview\">ArcGIS Survey123<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/arcgis-collector\/overview\">ArcGIS Collector<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/arcgis-dashboards\/overview\">ArcGIS Dashboards<\/a>\u2014to equip field crews with the ability to collect data and provide updates on progress on a central dashboard. Many find that the shared map isn\u2019t your map or my map, it\u2019s our map, and sharing updates on that map leads to new levels of collaboration.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis project really helped the rest of the program see how beneficial this could be,\u201d Captain Windt said. \u201cRather than have information stuck in files or drawings, anybody with access can get to it.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Indian Health Service made a big digital leap forward in 2004 with the launch of Sanitation Tracking and Reporting System (STARS). This move consolidated databases that track infrastructure deficiencies in homes and communities; requests for water service to home sites; documents and details of operations and maintenance projects; and service requests. STARS serves as an inventory of tribal sanitation needs, and it put 400,000 homes on the map because the program focuses on serving homes in communities.\r\n\r\n\u201cWith the STARS system we were able access a lot more data and understand costs really quickly,\u201d Captain Windt said. \u201cNow with GIS, we have the opportunity to combine all individual project drawings into composite drawings and make them readily available to IHS staff as well as our partners. We envision that the tribes will be able to leverage the GIS information gathered by the IHS to improve their operation and maintenance capacity, which support the water and wastewater facilities constructed with funding from the IHS and other federal agencies. It will allow the IHS to better understand each water and wastewater system as a whole, which will improve the technical support IHS can provide tribes. \u201d","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The fast-paced construction lasted from mid-July through September 2020. It was guided and communicated through shared maps and plans at each step of the way. An online interactive map marked progress for each chapter. In addition to the online map, a regularly updated map appeared in tribal newspapers because the paper is the primary source of information for many homes.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe were changing colors on the map, based on whether or not there was an identified transitional water point for each chapter,\u201d said Captain Shari Windt, engineering consultant, Environmental Health Support Center at IHS. The map changed when water points were slated for construction, design was being done, the construction was complete, and the water point was open. A final color was used when a chapter had all the interventions available.\r\n\r\nThe map guided the workers and the people they were serving to the new TWPs. Using GIS analysis, IHS calculated that the travel distance dropped from 52 to 17 miles, saving people an average of 38 minutes behind the wheel for each trip."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":453612,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/1b4dc0d978c74d97a559e615730d4cd4"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3><strong>Supplying Off-the-Grid Resources<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nJust as the water access work was wrapping up, the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources (DWR) reached out to IHS under a separate request for help on bridging the gap for remote homes without access to a piped water connection.\r\n\r\nDWR requested that IHS provide detailed design project drawings for a water cistern and on-site wastewater disposal facilities. Again, IHS deployed 15 Commissioned Corps engineers and environmental health officers of the US Public Health Service to undertake data collection.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe cistern project is really beneficial because you can have bathrooms with showers and toilets, and sinks in kitchens,\u201d Commander Clapp said. \u201cThe homeowners still have to haul water, but it\u2019s a bridge to more sustainable services such as a connection to a piped water system.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe data in the STARS system combined with analysis in GIS allowed IHS to identify 900 top candidates and provide a map of those homes.\r\n\r\nCommander Clapp led three teams made up of five people that each spent a month in the field on assessments. For each home visited, the team gathered design data from the site to determine where the water storage tank and sewer facilities should go. Team members also assessed any potential problems, such as the location of large rocks or obstacles that might hinder construction or site access.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was a collaborative effort, and it was done in a quick and efficient manner,\u201d Captain Hawasly said. \u201cThe Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority could access the data collected to quickly create plans and drawings for approximately 70 homes.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis pandemic work spurred the creation of the Water Access Coordination Group, which includes four Navajo government entities, six federal government agencies, three universities, and two nonprofits. Bringing water to homes is something that everyone working on these projects feels passionate about.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t have taken this disaster to get us here, but now there\u2019s a whole new recognition of what tribal resilience means and how the federal government can work together,\u201d Captain Harvey said.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>This project has received the Cumming Plaque from the Society of American Military Engineers, and Captain David Harvey received several awards, including the Public Health Service Officer of the Year from the US Public Health Service and the Agnese Nelms Haury 2020 Tribal Resilience Leadership Award, for spearheading the collaborative effort.<\/em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Expediting Water Relief for the Navajo Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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