How the pandemic exposed the water issues for southwestern tribes
Lack of potable water drove high Covid-19 rates in Native American communities, which helped get better representation in upcoming negotiations about Colorado River water.
Nancy Bitsue, an elderly member of the Navajo Nation, receives her monthly water delivery in the town of Thoreau on June 6, 2019 in Thoreau, New Mexico. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By Judy Fahys | Inside Climate News
| April 30, 2021, 8:14 p.m. | Updated: 9:42 p.m.
While the world watched in horror as refrigerator trailers collected the bodies of Covid-19 victims in New York City, the suffering of Native American people was almost invisible.
The Pandemic Exposed the Severe Water Insecurity Faced by Southwestern Tribes
Lack of potable water drove high Covid-19 rates in Native American communities. That realization may help them gain better representation in upcoming negotiations about Colorado River water.
April 29, 2021
Nancy Bitsue, an elderly member of the Navajo Nation, receives her monthly water delivery in the town of Thoreau on June 6, 2019 in Thoreau, New Mexico. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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While the world watched in horror as refrigerator trailers collected the bodies of Covid-19 victims in New York City, the suffering of Native American people was almost invisible.
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RadioWest, we’re examining former-President Trump’s impact on the environment and public lands here in the West. Like so many issues these days, this is divisive territory.
In his four years as president, Donald Trump rolled back more than 125 environmental regulations and removed protections from nearly 35 million acres of public lands, including millions here in Utah. Seen from one side of the ideological divide, the weakening of protections for migratory birds, the shrinking of national monuments and a host of other actions look like assaults on wildlife and wild places. But step across the aisle and those actions are seen as boons to business and rural communities. We’ll hear from both sides this Friday at noon, and ask what effect the Biden administration might have in his first term.