Why No Concern For the Navajo Nations Water Supply?

JimBowie1958

Old Fogey
Sep 25, 2011
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We owe it to these First Americans to ensure that they have a clean environment, for God's Sake.

Navajo Water Supply is Poisoned Worse Than Flint, but 'No One Cares Because They’re Native American' - Counter Current News

In the western U.S., water contamination has been a way of life for many tribes. As Brenda Norrell, a news reporter in Indian country, describes, the situation in Navajo nation is “more horrific than in Flint, Michigan.”
Since the 1950s, their water has been poisoned by uranium mining to fuel the nuclear industry and the making of atomic bombs for the U.S. military. Coal mining and coal-fired power plants have added to the mix. The latest assault on Navajo water was carried out by the massive toxic spills into the Animas and San Juan rivers when the EPA recklessly attempted to address the abandoned Gold King mine.
Charmaine White Face, from the Native American organization Defenders of the Black Hills, a group active in South Dakota, notes that “in 2015 the Gold King Mine spill was a wake-up call to address dangers of abandoned mines, but there are currently more than 15,000 toxic uranium mines that remain abandoned throughout the US.”
“For more than 50 years,” they White Face added,“many of these hazardous sites have been contaminating the land, air, water, and national monuments such as Mt. Rushmore and the Grand Canyon.
 
While it is admirable that you are concerned about the Navajo's drinking water, I believe that you need to know more about it.

Up on the Navajo rez and in most all of that portion of Arizona, no one really draws their drinking water from the rivers as they and their flow is too unpredictable. Most of the drinking water is drawn from wells tapping into the Coconino Aquifer which resides nearly 600 feet down from the surface. Yes, there were some Uranium mines on the rez, but it is hard to say how much they would effect the aquifer.

Your article mentions mainly other tribes and then talks about how the Navajo has been poisoned since 1950 because of the mines, and then goes on to say:

Coal mining and coal-fired power plants have added to the mix.

I do not know of any coal mines in Arizona. Further:

The latest assault on Navajo water was carried out by the massive toxic spills into the Animas and San Juan rivers when the EPA recklessly attempted to address the abandoned Gold King mine.

Again, no one in north eastern Arizona draws much drinking water from rivers and then there's this:

Link: Navajo lawmakers approve water rights settlement with Utah

Trust me I am concerned as well, I used to live shoulder to shoulder with many Dine and Apache, I just thought I'd post what I know from my experience living there.

Ya'ta'he and Da'go'te
 
While it is admirable that you are concerned about the Navajo's drinking water, I believe that you need to know more about it.

Up on the Navajo rez and in most all of that portion of Arizona, no one really draws their drinking water from the rivers as they and their flow is too unpredictable. Most of the drinking water is drawn from wells tapping into the Coconino Aquifer which resides nearly 600 feet down from the surface. Yes, there were some Uranium mines on the rez, but it is hard to say how much they would effect the aquifer.

Your article mentions mainly other tribes and then talks about how the Navajo has been poisoned since 1950 because of the mines, and then goes on to say:

Coal mining and coal-fired power plants have added to the mix.

I do not know of any coal mines in Arizona. Further:

The latest assault on Navajo water was carried out by the massive toxic spills into the Animas and San Juan rivers when the EPA recklessly attempted to address the abandoned Gold King mine.

Again, no one in north eastern Arizona draws much drinking water from rivers and then there's this:

Link: Navajo lawmakers approve water rights settlement with Utah

Trust me I am concerned as well, I used to live shoulder to shoulder with many Dine and Apache, I just thought I'd post what I know from my experience living there.

Ya'ta'he and Da'go'te
While I understand what you are saying, it reinforces the point; the water is so bad no one is using it. Dont you think the Navaho could use that water if it were clean?
 
While I understand what you are saying, it reinforces the point; the water is so bad no one is using it. Dont you think the Navaho could use that water if it were clean?

I think you missed my point, or I didn't make it clear enough. No one uses surface water much for drinking in the southwest because in the summer, most rivers either dry up or become so shallow that all you're going to pump is sand. The exception of course is the Colorado. Therefore, well water is king. I used to work in waterworks and every single water district and/or company I dealt with had well or wells feeding their water system(s).
 
Well because . that happened under that Democrat Obama's administration and we all should know they can't do anything wrong. And then have one of their Senators accuse them of being racist over it, are you freaking kidding?

these people will turn anything from a STATE into politics and race baiting off of it. But let it happen under the FEDERAL Government run by a thug Democrat. it's swept under the rug
 
Well because . that happened under that Democrat Obama's administration and we all should know they can't do anything wrong. And then have one of their Senators accuse them of being racist over it, are you freaking kidding?

these people will turn anything from a STATE into politics and race baiting off of it. But let it happen under the FEDERAL Government run by a thug Democrat. it's swept under the rug

The EPA is one of the government bodies that will destroy private businesss in America. It has to be protected.
 
Yea, what about their water?...

Native Americans Ask: What About Our Water Supply?
February 13, 2016 - Celebrities and politicians have rallied around the city of Flint, Michigan, where thousands of children have been exposed to unsafe levels of lead in drinking water. But Native Americans say they have been facing an even more dangerous water contaminant for decades - uranium - and received far less attention
The Cold War arms race triggered a boom in uranium mining in the U.S. Between the 1940s and 1980s, uranium mining operations were carried out under a 19th century mining law that did not require them to clean up after themselves. When demand for uranium waned in the 1980s, companies simply walked away, leaving open pits and tunnels - and enormous amounts of radioactive waste. Today more than 15,000 abandoned uranium mines dot the U.S. West. Three-quarters of them are located on federal and tribal lands.

AF508153-371D-4F8D-97FD-57AC57E64C11_w640_s.jpg

Diné (Navajo) miners work at the Kerr McGee uranium mine at Cove on the Navajo reservation in Arizona​

Ray Manygoats grew up near Tuba City, Arizona, near a now-abandoned uranium mine. He is no stranger to the substance the Diné (Navajo) people call “the yellow monster.” “Yellow stuff was always everywhere,” Manygoats told the House Oversight Committee in 2007. “I saw liquids bubbling and tried to stay away from them…we would play in the yellowcake sand near the mill, jumping and rolling around in it.” Manygoats has suffered from a variety of health troubles, including growths on his eyes; his father has respiratory problems.

Effects on drinking water

“There is a really large and convincing and definitive literature that shows that for miners working underground, uranium mining is associated with a greatly increased risk of lung cancer,” said Douglas Brugge, Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. “We also know that uranium, radium, radon and arsenic – which is frequently in the ore as well – are toxic. And we know from a fairly large number of studies that people who are drinking water contaminated with uranium have some adverse health effects, mostly kidney damage.”

4694658E-B99A-4233-B29D-8F2440D83DE7_w640_s.jpg

Yellow mine waste water is seen at the entrance to the Gold King Mine in San Juan County, Colorado​

In 2014, University of New Mexico researchers sampled mine waste at one Arizona site and found uranium concentrations in spring water that was four times the federal drinking-water limit. Thirty percent of Diné lack access to public water and are forced to drink from unregulated wells, springs and livestock ponds, any of which could be contaminated.

Mining ongoing
 
While it is admirable that you are concerned about the Navajo's drinking water, I believe that you need to know more about it.

Up on the Navajo rez and in most all of that portion of Arizona, no one really draws their drinking water from the rivers as they and their flow is too unpredictable. Most of the drinking water is drawn from wells tapping into the Coconino Aquifer which resides nearly 600 feet down from the surface. Yes, there were some Uranium mines on the rez, but it is hard to say how much they would effect the aquifer.

Your article mentions mainly other tribes and then talks about how the Navajo has been poisoned since 1950 because of the mines, and then goes on to say:

Coal mining and coal-fired power plants have added to the mix.

I do not know of any coal mines in Arizona. Further:

The latest assault on Navajo water was carried out by the massive toxic spills into the Animas and San Juan rivers when the EPA recklessly attempted to address the abandoned Gold King mine.

Again, no one in north eastern Arizona draws much drinking water from rivers and then there's this:

Link: Navajo lawmakers approve water rights settlement with Utah

Trust me I am concerned as well, I used to live shoulder to shoulder with many Dine and Apache, I just thought I'd post what I know from my experience living there.

Ya'ta'he and Da'go'te

Thanks for posting
 
The Navajo? Why? We don't need to spend anymore tax money on those fucking timber ni**ers. We gave them land and sovereignty. Let those assholes figure it out.
 
While it is admirable that you are concerned about the Navajo's drinking water, I believe that you need to know more about it.

Up on the Navajo rez and in most all of that portion of Arizona, no one really draws their drinking water from the rivers as they and their flow is too unpredictable. Most of the drinking water is drawn from wells tapping into the Coconino Aquifer which resides nearly 600 feet down from the surface. Yes, there were some Uranium mines on the rez, but it is hard to say how much they would effect the aquifer.

Your article mentions mainly other tribes and then talks about how the Navajo has been poisoned since 1950 because of the mines, and then goes on to say:

Coal mining and coal-fired power plants have added to the mix.

I do not know of any coal mines in Arizona. Further:

The latest assault on Navajo water was carried out by the massive toxic spills into the Animas and San Juan rivers when the EPA recklessly attempted to address the abandoned Gold King mine.

Again, no one in north eastern Arizona draws much drinking water from rivers and then there's this:

Link: Navajo lawmakers approve water rights settlement with Utah

Trust me I am concerned as well, I used to live shoulder to shoulder with many Dine and Apache, I just thought I'd post what I know from my experience living there.

Ya'ta'he and Da'go'te

It's nice to see someone post the truth like this.

(Bet they have no idea what the closing line says!) :)
 
We owe it to these First Americans to ensure that they have a clean environment, for God's Sake.

Navajo Water Supply is Poisoned Worse Than Flint, but 'No One Cares Because They’re Native American' - Counter Current News

In the western U.S., water contamination has been a way of life for many tribes. As Brenda Norrell, a news reporter in Indian country, describes, the situation in Navajo nation is “more horrific than in Flint, Michigan.”
Since the 1950s, their water has been poisoned by uranium mining to fuel the nuclear industry and the making of atomic bombs for the U.S. military. Coal mining and coal-fired power plants have added to the mix. The latest assault on Navajo water was carried out by the massive toxic spills into the Animas and San Juan rivers when the EPA recklessly attempted to address the abandoned Gold King mine.
Charmaine White Face, from the Native American organization Defenders of the Black Hills, a group active in South Dakota, notes that “in 2015 the Gold King Mine spill was a wake-up call to address dangers of abandoned mines, but there are currently more than 15,000 toxic uranium mines that remain abandoned throughout the US.”
“For more than 50 years,” they White Face added,“many of these hazardous sites have been contaminating the land, air, water, and national monuments such as Mt. Rushmore and the Grand Canyon.

And blame something on Obama's people? Now, you KNOW that happ'nin.
 
Many things we don't know is because the media refuses to report it.

The GOP blackmailing Obama into extending the Bush Tax Cuts.

The GOP protecting BP and not America after the gulf spill.

The millions of jobs that moved to China under Bush and the tens of thousands of factories closed under Bush.

The list is endless.
 
Many things we don't know is because the media refuses to report it.

The GOP blackmailing Obama into extending the Bush Tax Cuts.

The GOP protecting BP and not America after the gulf spill.

The millions of jobs that moved to China under Bush and the tens of thousands of factories closed under Bush.

The list is endless.

Look at Flint. That was Rachel Maddow reporting, not the main stream media.
 

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