Weekly Wave: Reflections: On the Meaning of Indigenous Water Resilience

Prior to the WRRC’s 2021 Annual Conference, Tribal Water Resilience in a Changing Environment, I penned an essay entitled “On the Meaning of Water Resilience.” The concept of resilience is ubiquitous in conversations and the literature on water challenges. I questioned whether any of the commonly used definitions captured the Indigenous view of resilience. I highlighted key words from some of the cited definitions: adapt, reorganize, capacity, functions, sustainable, lifestyle, future. I noted: “Water resilience is not only about supply. It is about how the natural and human-connected systems live with the water. Perhaps a term to think about is coexistence: how we as humans co-exist with our natural water systems. Our ability to be resilient requires us to think about this co-existence in everything we do, including how we build and design our communities and their structures.” And I invited the reader to attend the conference, held virtually August 30 through September 1, 2021.