Members of the Teec Nos Pos and Red Mesa Chapters use wells drilled deep into the desert floor to water their 1,000 or so cattle. (A chapter is both a rural community and a unit of local government in the Navajo Nation.) But in the 2000s, the Navajo Nation Water Code Administration found, through testing, that these wells had high levels of arsenic, uranium and E. coli, rendering them non-potable for both humans and livestock.

After the discovery, ranchers had to truck in water from up to two hours away for their livestock because they could not afford to drill new wells. Despite their best efforts, because of the harsh desert conditions, some of the cattle died.

Over the past year, through USDA’s StrikeForce for Rural Growth and Opportunity initiative, NRCS was able to partner with the chapters and the Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture to dig two new wells and safely decommission the contaminated wells.