About one-third of Navajo Nation residents lack running water in their homes and water pollution remains a serious issue in the region. We talk to Kaitlin Harris of DigDeep’s Navajo Water Project about solutions to these pressing problems.
Episode highlights
Introduction (0:57) | |
Kaitlin Harris, DigDeep Navajo Water Project Kaitlin is a field engineer for the Navajo Water Project, a grant and donation-funded effort to bring drinking water and sanitation services to remote communities in the Navajo Nation, which is roughly the size of West Virginia.
Starts at 1:05 | |
Bringing hot and cold water service to remote communities Thirty percent of Navajo Nation residents lack access to hot or cold water or sanitation. Starts at 1:52 | |
Water challenges on the Navajo Nation As in many indigenous communities, infrastructure in the Navajo Nation has long been underfunded. A four decade legacy of uranium mining has left a lot of pollution as well. The Nation’s dispersed population also makes it more difficult to provide water service. Starts at 4:18 | |
Intersection of Covid-19 and water security (9:41) | |
Water Words: ‘Prior Appropriation’ (13:13) | |
How did water problems take root in the Nation? (15:34) | |
Can federal legislation be of help? (19:36) | |
The Western Navajo Pipeline project (21:02) | |
Do water projects create jobs? (22:06) | |
Funding sources for water projects (23:50) | |
Other communities facing similar challenges? (25:33) | |
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Share your thoughts – and consider joining us
If you’re interested in appearing on the show, please contact Water Desk Director Mitch Tobin at mitchtobin@colorado.edu. If you’d like to share your comments and questions, you can reach us at waterdesk@colorado.edu, or on Twitter and Facebook.
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