A Water Heritage Framework: A Deep History of Water on the Colorado Plateau, Utah

Water shapes institutions, communities, and cultural heritage through physical waterways and social relationships with water. Study of this water-community entanglement shows that human activity and climate processes are transforming “water heritage,” including canals, irrigation systems, ponds, and cultural knowledge. On the Colorado Plateau, waterscapes have long supported Indigenous and settler agricultural and water-harvesting practices. A historical perspective demonstrates the central role of water heritage in forming, sustaining, and reshaping communities over time. Drawing primarily on ethnohistoric evidence, this paper traces how community relationships with water have changed since early European arrival in the eighteenth century. We argue that a water heritage framework integrating tangible and intangible elements reveals how water management and social relationships have been historically structured, and continue to structure plateau communities. Using Blanding, Utah, as a case study, we show that despite demographic and social changes, enduring relationships with water continue to shape identity and culture.