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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1385325
This article is part of the Research Topic Promoting Health and Addressing Disparities Amongst Indigenous Populations View all 19 articles

• T'ah kóó hóniidló, We're Still HERE! Mining Legacies, Indigenous Health and Innovative Solutions

Provisionally accepted
Ranalda L. Tsosie Ranalda L. Tsosie *
  • Department of Earth & Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In the world today, there are many unknowns especially with rising environmental concerns. However, one of the most important is an irreplaceable and shared resource, water or as the Diné (Navajo) refer to as, Tó. Throughout the world many Indigenous communities are facing water challenges, from lack of and access to adequate infrastructure, water rights, climate change and water contamination issues due to a variety of sources including anthropogenic sources like mining, especially, on the Navajo (Diné) reservation.This article aims to bring forth awareness of the long-standing water contamination issues in Diné communities and to shed light on innovative solutions being developed through current research efforts. Specifically, Dr. Tsosie's research aims to optimize a handheld point of use filter unit with a filter casing design that is customizable to a community and/or household through an easily removable and exchangeable cartridge system. Despite all the challenges and legacies of mining faced by not only Diné communities but many Indigenous communities, We Remain and We Are Still Here.

    Keywords: Water filtration1, Navajo Nation2, water3, Health4, Mining legacies5. (Min.5-Max

    Received: 13 Feb 2024; Accepted: 09 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tsosie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ranalda L. Tsosie, Department of Earth & Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.