NAVAJO NATION DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN 2003 PREPARED BY: NAVAJO NATION DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES IN COOPERATION WITH: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................1 1.1 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ..........................................2 2 BACKGROUND ............................................................4 2.1 THE NAVAJO NATION GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE . 8 2.2 NAVAJO NATION CODES ..........................................13 2.3 OVERVIEW OF THE CLIMATE......................................15 3 DROUGHT VULNERABILITY ...............................................20 3.1 DOMESTIC WATER HAULERS......................................20 3.2 PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SYSTEMS...............................23 3.3 IRRIGATORS AND DRY LAND FARMERS . 28 3.4 RANCHERS ......................................................33 3.5 RECREATION, WILDLIFE AND FORESTRY . 40 3.5.1 Recreation .................................................40 3.5.2 Fish and Wildlife............................................40 3.5.3 Forests....................................................42 4 DROUGHT MONITORING .................................................44 4.1 THE SIX-MONTH SPI ...............................................44 4.2 RELEVANT INFORMATION FROM THE NDMC DROUGHT MONITOR ...............................................................45 4.3 NAVAJO DROUGHT MONITORING AND THE NAVAJO NATION SPI . 46 4.2 DROUGHT FORECASTING ..........................................48 5 DROUGHT MITIGATION ...................................................49 5.1 DROUGHT MONITORING ..........................................49 5.2 DOMESTIC WATER HAULERS......................................50 5.3 PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SYSTEMS...............................52 5.4 IRRIGATORS AND DRYLAND FARMERS . 53 5.5 RANCHERS ......................................................56 5.5.1 Establish an effective Navajo Nation Grazing Policy . 56 5.5.2 Improve Range Management ..................................56 5.5.3 Provide additional assistance to ranchers . 57 5.5.4 Improve the reliability of livestock supplies . 58 5.6 RECREATION, WILDLIFE AND FORESTRY . 60 5.6.1 Recreation and Wildlife ......................................60 5.6.2 Forestry ..................................................61 5.7 REUSE OF TREATED WASTE WATER................................62 5.8 CONCLUSIONS....................................................62 6 DROUGHT RESPONSE.....................................................64 6.1 NAVAJO DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES . 64 6.1.1 Water Management Branch ...................................64 6.1.2 Technical Construction and Operation Branch . 67 6.1.3 Water Code Administration ...................................68 6.2 NAVAJO DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT . 68 6.3 NAVAJO NATION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE . 70 6.4 NAVAJO FORESTRY DEPARTMENT ................................71 6.5 THE NAVAJO NATION ............................................72 6.5.1 The Office of the President and the Vice President . 72 6.5.2 The Emergency Management Commission . 73 6.6 THE CHAPTERS ..................................................74 6.7 NAVAJO TRIBAL UTILITY AUTHORITY . 76 6.8 GRAZING DISTRICTS, FARMBOARDS AND SWCD’S . 77 REFERENCES ..............................................................87 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADWR Arizona Department of Water Resources BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs CPC Climate Prediction Center DNR Navajo Division of Natural Resources EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EMC Emergency Management Commission EQUIP Environmental Quality Intensive Program FSA USDA Farm Service Agency IGR Intergovernmental Relations Committee IHS U.S. Indian Health Service NEPA Navajo Environmental Protection Agency NDEM Navajo Department of Emergency Management NFD Navajo Forestry Department NDMC National Drought Mitigation Center NNDA Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture NDFW Navajo Department of Fish & Wildlife NDPR Navajo Department of Parks and Recreation NNSPI Navajo Nation SPI NDWR Navajo Department of Water Resources NIIP Navajo Indian Irrigation Project NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NRCS USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service NTUA Navajo Tribal Utility Authority PDSI Palmer Drought Severity Index SAS Navajo Nation Council Signature Authority Sheet SPI Standardized Precipitation Index SWE Snow Water Equivalent TCOB Technical Construction and Operation Branch USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture WMB Navajo Water Management Branch WRCC Western Regional Climate Center 1 INTRODUCTION Due to the arid climate, drought has always been a major concern to the Navajo people. Navajo Nation residents, ranchers, farmers, and businessmen are subjected to frequent water shortages. Since 1988 the Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management (NDEM) has coordinated the Navajo Nation’s response to drought. The most recent extreme Reservation-wide drought faced by the Navajo Nation was in 1996. As a result of that event, the NDEM drafted the Drought Comprehensive Action Plan (NDEM, 1996). That action plan is the template for the Navajo Nation’s drought contingency plan. To improve the understanding of future drought impacts, in 1996 the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources (NDWR) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) completed the Drought Contingency Planning Study Phase I Plan (Phase I Study, NDWR, 1996). That report compiled much of the information which was later incorporated into the Water Resources Development Strategy for the Navajo Nation (NDWR, 2000). One of the recommendations from the Phase I Study was that, although the Navajo Nation had drafted several components for a drought plan, it still needed a more comprehensive and effective contingency plan. That recommendation has resulted in the Navajo Nation Drought Report 2002 (Drought Report). The Phase I Study and the Drought Report were used to prepare this Navajo Nation Response Contingency Plan 2002 (Contingency Plan). This Drought Contingency Plan is a collaboration between Reclamation, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Navajo Division of Natural Resources (DNR), and the NDEM. To develop this plan the NDWR met with: 1) NDEM, 2) DNR Departments, 3) Division of Economic Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program and Local Governance Support Center, 4) Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, and 5) Navajo Environmental Protection Administration. The term “drought” is often inaccurately used to characterize all water shortage situations. Drought is commonly defined as a persistent and extended period of below normal precipitation causing abnormal moisture deficiency having adverse effects on people, animals and crops (Hawaii, 2000). The Navajo Nation is an arid region, where periods of little or no rainfall frequently occur and do not necessarily constitute a drought. The Navajo Nation response needs to distinguish between chronic water shortage and drought. Droughts are a result of a number of interacting factors. The impacts of a drought vary depending on the water use sector. Droughts can be defined by meteorological, agricultural, hydrologic or socioeconomic variables. Any one of these variables can be quantified using different indices. Furthermore, the beginning and end of drought events are not distinct. The Contingency Plan is based on the six-month Standard Precipitation Index (SPI). 1 Mitigation and protection are more cost effective than response and recovery. One objective of drought mitigation is to reduce the expense of responding to drought emergencies. Emergency drought response is difficult to sustain over a long period of time. The Contingency Plan combines long term and short term mitigation strategies, and it will assist all of the Navajo stakeholders to be proactive before a drought begins. This Contingency Plan provides guidance to the Chapters and the federal agencies to take appropriate action to minimize drought impacts. It will be updated annually. The Appendices A through provide an example of the monthly drought status report, draft correspondence, and contact information. The Navajo Nation’s drought response is evolving, and will continue to incorporate input from tribal departments, federal agencies, Navajo Chapters, and individual water users on the Navajo Nation. During severe droughts the Navajo Nation Council receives dozens of Chapter resolutions requesting assistance. Due to the lengthy and complicated tribal process, impacted Chapters wait for many months for Tribal funds to become available. And, they often miss the opportunity to benefit from federal drought relief programs. This Contingency Plan provides the Navajo Nation with a simpler, more streamlined tool to determine in a timely manner which Chapters should receive assistance. 1.1 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES This Contingency Plan has several broad goals. On one level the Contingency Plan is a “how to” handbook for individuals and Chapters to address drought. It contains useful information for connecting specific categories of water users with specific resources. It describes which programs should be contacted and when. And, it describes the types of information needed to assist various sectors of water use. This plan encourages the Chapters to plan prior to, and respond during, droughts. For instance, Chapters may need assistance to get water hauled to stricken areas, or to help individuals qualify for supplemental