Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
Overview
- Category: Governmental
- Organization Location: Livingston, Texas; Polk County
- Activity: Harvests rainwater for wildfire mitigation, irrigation, and dust abatement.
Background
The rainwater harvesting system installed by the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas harvests and stores 65,000 gallons of rainwater to be used for wildfire mitigation, irrigation of a community garden, and dust abatement. As prescribed burns are a way of life for the tribe, refilling trucks with rainwater rather than from area lakes and wells relieves dependency on local water resources and cuts the expense of hauling water from other areas. Through outreach events, the project also provided education and demonstration of assembly and installation of smaller-scale systems for household rainwater harvesting. The project generated interest among other tribes in Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Louisiana.