Rising Temperatures And Drought Conditions Intensify Water Shortage For Navajo Nation

Fill up canisters with water a public water pump on June 04, 2019 in Gallup, New Mexico. Due to a legacy of poverty, government neglect, and stolen water rights, up to 40 percent of Navajo Nation households don’t have clean running water at home and are forced to rely on weekly and daily visits to water pumps. The problem for the Navajo Nation, a population of over 200,000 and the largest federally-recognized sovereign tribe in the U.S. in land area, is so significant that comparisons are made to regions in sub-Saharan Africa. Rising temperatures associated with global warming have worsened drought conditions on their lands over recent decades leading to a worsening of water access. The reservation consists of a 27,000-square-mile area of desert and high plains in New Mexico, southern Utah and Arizona. The Navajo Water Project, a nonprofit from the water advocacy group Dig Deep, has been working on Navajo lands in New Mexico since 2013 funding a mobile water delivery truck and digging and installing water tanks to individual homes. (Footage by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)