USDA worked with Alabama-Coushatta Tribe to create a Multipurpose Rainwater Catchment System

Rainwater harvesting is an ancient practice. It's also a modern day solution to drought. More than 10,000 years ago, the Mescalero Apache Tribe used natural rainwater harvesting systems to collect rainwater near today’s city of El Paso, Texas. More recently, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe, together with federal partners -- USDA's Southern Plains Climate Hub, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) – worked on a rainfall harvesting system to serve multiple purposes for tribal members.

Not only is the water necessary for crops, community gardens, and food production, it is also critical for firefighting, filling water trucks for road construction, managing prescribed fires, and irrigating local gardens. The roof of the Tribe's Veterans Pavilion proved to be an ideal collection site for rainwater, which is conveyed to a 65,000 gallon storage tank. Additionally, NRCS led workshops and field days for over 2,400 attendees from historically underserved rural communities on technical assistance about the rainwater harvesting systems.

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas has the oldest reservation in the state, encompassing approximately 11,000 acres. The Tribe has also worked with NRCS to restore the critical and culturally significant longleaf pine ecosystem, a native tree sacred to the tribe and essential to their basket weaving practice.