Community organizations will host the Walk for Water 2025 on Dec. 13 at 8 a.m. at Litekyan (Ritidian National Wildlife Refuge), urging island residents to stand together for clean drinking water and support efforts to shut down the firing range built above the Northern Lens Aquifer. The event also honors the ancestral landowners of Litekyan and underscores widespread concerns over water contamination across Guåhan.
Organizers say the annual walk comes amid growing alarm over PFAS exposure, runoff from military construction and other threats affecting access to safe freshwater. They emphasize that environmental health, cultural survival and climate justice are deeply linked throughout the Marianas. The event promotes collective action and Indigenous stewardship as essential to protecting Guam’s most vital natural resource.
Participants will take part in a one-mile guided walk through Litekyan led by ancestral stewards, healers, fishers and cultural practitioners. The program includes CHamoru chants, prayer, youth-led ceremonies, musical performances, educational demonstrations and keynote remarks on contamination, Indigenous rights and environmental justice. Accessibility seating, shaded areas, and a shorter 0.25-mile route will be available.
This year’s walk amplifies calls to safeguard the Northern Lens Aquifer, Guam’s sole-source drinking water supply, from potential contamination linked to the firing range. “We will walk together in prayer and reflection and raise our voices for clean water for our community and generations to come,” said Maria Hernandez, MCCA co-director and Hita Litekyan organizer. The event is organized by Hita Litekyan, the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, Fanohge Coalition, Independent Guåhan, Gi Matan Guma’, Pulan Speaks and Maga’låhen Hurao CHamoru Academy Charter School.