The Whiteclay and Nakoda elders lectured the youth of respect and reverence to rivers, streams, lakes, and springs. "The streams are our life, don't discard litter in the stream, don't relief yourself in the water and don't let the animals lounge near the streams. Keep the streams clean since you don't know who is using the water downstream or who is using the water upstream." These are the lectures we all heard growing up.

Fort Belknap's water resources are widely diverse in physical, biological and chemical dynamics. The Milk River located on the northern end of the reservation services 500 homes with drinking water and agriculture uses, Peoples Creek originates in the Bear Paw Mountains enters Fort Belknap at the middle section and is used to irrigate and support livestock. Several smaller perennial, intermittent and ephemeral streams most originating from the Little Rocky Mountains, support recreational, cultural, and agriculture uses.

Clean water has a vital significance to the people of Fort Belknap that include high-quality water that supports drinking, recreation, and cultural uses. Furthermore, clean water is essential for aquatic life, mammals, and waterfowl.

The Water Quality Program was established in 1989. The Whiteclay and Nakoda tribes foreseen a need for a Water Quality Program as they were struggling with the heap-leach gold mining in the Little Rocky Mountains.

The program includes Chemical and Field parameter collections, Habitat Assessments, Stream Surveys, Benthic macroinvertebrate sample and reference collection and Fish Surveys. The Environmental Department has strived to be a major part of EPA's Tribal STORET data storage and retrieval program.