Arid Land, Urgent Need for Water

As a child I listened to my father stand before his community and tribal leaders expressing his visions about the Colorado River. He shared the importance of acquiring usage of the Colorado River by the Navajo Tribe. He also spoke of environmental issues, stating the selling of sacred source of coal and water would deminish the "Navajo way" and the price for them would be destrimental to the People.
Today I am witnessing the urgency to find water source in most of the Navajo reservation land. My family-land-use is split by the former Bennett Freeze Act---BIA fence running right through the land. This is now one of the factors in the longated hardship for the People of the Western Navajo reservation. The access to clean water and watering holes for the animals are numberless. The People go beyond their community to buy barreled water for their households, for their livestocks----just to live another drought driven season.
Many People know the Peabody Coal Mines (located 10 miles away from my family's land) has been a major source of environmental degradation to the Navajo land. For over 30 years, with our Tribal Government's permission, they have slurred the coal to Nevada with our fresh water. The sole water source that is much needed has gone away from the People to another part of the country. The company continues to slur coal but from another region of the State of Arizona. The environment impact of digging for coal, acquiring coal, transporting coal, using coal and disposing coal all adds up to the price of water and air.
Solutions are a few, give the inherited water rights back to the People of the community and we as Navajo citizens must be willing to accept it and protect it. Our Tribal Government has not done well in protecting the People's interest, they seem to not be able to restrain from instant gratification (imagine the unreported information we will not know of, chilling).

Some solutions....

Drill for more wells and wind mills.

Channel the run off water appropriately and fix the animal watering holes.

Send a voice to the Navajo tribal government, to Congress....to your family and friends.