WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2022) Ranchers in the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American tribe in the United States, have to reduce their livestock as a result of the worsening water shortage that has been impacting their reservation over the last two decades, tribal President Jonathan Nez told Sputnik.
"(Ranchers) had to reduce some of their livestock... They've been having a hard time," Nez said. "We've been helping out our ranchers as well by putting an incentive program to reduce their livestock, but it seems that the water shortage is getting worse and worse every year."
The Navajo Nation encompasses parts of the US states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
Although the Navajo tribe had some monsoon rain recently that will help, the nation is still in a drought, Nez said.
The reduction of the uses of the San Juan River, Lake Powell, and Colorado River also squeezes the tribe's water resources, he added.
The US Department of the Interior restricted water use from Lake Powell and the Colorado River, which flows through tributaries like the San Juan River, due to low water levels.
"Less water is coming to our nation for drinking and farming and ranching, agriculture," Nez said. "So we're going to have to begin to use what we have here on the Navajo Nation in terms of earthen dams (embankment dams) that need to be repaired so we can keep some of this monsoon rainwater to help our ranchers."
Nez noted that water scarcity has also forced farmers in the Navajo Nation to avoid selling it off the reservation in order to ensure their community has enough food.
"We got a good rain, good monsoon these past couple of months, so I think the crops will be good," Nez said. "For Navajo, there'll be food on the table for many families."
However, Nez also said that up to 40% of the Navajo tribe's people do not have running water or electricity.
"In the most powerful country in the world, there should be running water, electricity, basic infrastructure, but today, in the most powerful country in the world, 30% to 40% of our Navajo people don't have electricity or running water and a larger percentage that don't have internet at home," Nez said.
Despite that state of affairs, a gradual change has been noticed with the new US administration in office, Nez added.
