Water Monitoring Project Links Indigenous Students
from Kansas and Siberia

by Dr. Anne Calhoon, University of Kansas; Wendy Griswold, Kansas State University; Jennifer Ivie, University of Kansas; and Dr. Cynthia Annett, Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center (http://www.engg.ksu.edu/HSRC/international/altai.html)

Thanks to a partnership among four universities, indigenous college students from Siberia and the US are learning about a problem they have in common: polluted drinking water. In both the US and Russia, water sources on indigenous lands were kept pristine and healthy for thousands of years, yet today many have become too polluted to drink from directly. From an indigenous perspective, water is considered a sacred element, so testing for pollution means more than simply a scientific endeavor. Working on water quality issues together has helped them identify their shared traditional ecological values and take joint steps to educate young people and improve their drinking water.

Gorno-Altaisk State University (GASU) in Siberia's Altai Republic formed a partnership with three universities in the US: Haskell Indian Nations University, Kansas State University, and the University of Kansas. In the summer of 2001, students from Haskell Indian Nations University traveled to GASU on a program sponsored by the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center to detect and correct drinking water problems that affect indigenous people in both the US and Russia.

Drinking water quality and sanitation have been identified by a USAID-sponsored land-use planning team as a priority in economic development of the Altai Republic in the Russian Federation. Poor drinking water quality remains the leading cause of health problems for young children in the Republic, particularly due to high incidences of tularemia and hepatitis. Many American Indians living on reservations today share water-related health problems with their Siberian counterparts.

Few settlements in the Altai Republic have water purification or sewage treatment facilities. Many settlements obtain drinking water from streams, rivers, and lakes that suffer from elevated levels of nitrogen, fecal-coliform bacteria and other pollutants. Springs along the major highway in the Republic, the Novosibirsk-Tashanta road, are polluted by lead, nitrogen compounds, and hydrocarbons, as are some ground water supplies near meat and milk processing enterprises. Even worse, mining operations in the Kuznetsky-Altai ore belt have resulted in elevated levels of mercury, an extremely toxic poison, in the Katun and Ob Rivers.

To begin addressing these issues, the university partners developed a community-based drinking water quality assessment program that teaches people in remote villages and indigenous communities in the Altai to assess the quality of their drinking water. GASU's network of teachers and community groups, linked and informed by a database, are now not only monitoring water resources, but showing American college students how their work can be applied on indigenous lands here in the US.

Faculty and students from GASU and Haskell began by developing a water quality curriculum for school children. Training materials included lessons on how to use simple water quality test kits. Emphasis was placed on technologies that are manageable in remote areas of either Russia or North America.

In the exchange's latest phase last summer, GASU hosted US faculty and students for joint trainings in water quality monitoring in the Altai. Using water testing kits designed for use by school children, the group tested springs, rivers, wells, and municipal sources for turbidity, fecal coliform bacteria, pH, nitrates, phosphorous, and dissolved oxygen. Working closely with children's groups also allowed them to try different educational methods. In the Altai National Reserve, Siberian and American college students held a demonstration workshop for school children who were attending summer camp in the park.

Mikhail Korenman, an assistant professor of chemistry at Bethany College and adjunct assistant professor of International Studies at KSU, said that such demonstrations helped participants see what they will face when sharing water quality testing methods with targeted groups. "It was very important that local people, especially those who represented the state reserve, participated in the testing and discussion of the results," Korenman said. "In the future, they can do the same tests by themselves. It was also very educational for local kids to discuss water quality and how water can be preserved."

Exploring the cultural connections between indigenous peoples was an important part of the learning experience. Approximately 30 percent of the Altai Republic's population (and GASU's student body) is made up of indigenous Altaians, and Haskell has a 100 percent tribal enrollment, serving all federally recognized tribes and Alaskan native villages.

Last summer, the partners began a documentation project to compare traditional ecological values. Partners shared cultural traditions, such as songs, dances, and stories about the natural world. In May, a delegation of faculty and students from Siberia will come to Kansas for three weeks. They will perform chemical analyses of water samples from the Altai Republic, create a computerized database for storing water quality data, and finish developing the curriculum. The Altaians plan to attend the Haskell graduation ceremonies and Pow Wow and to visit to area tribal nations. Improving water quality for all peoples is the goal, but building cultural and personal ties will certainly be part of the project's long-term effect.