Those of us who work in and support water and sanitation projects in developing regions often forget the plight of Native Americans in the USA and the First Nations in Canada. Too often clean water and sanitation needs are unmet. And those unmet needs can lead to poor health.
Randal C. Archibold's story in the 31 August 2008 New York Times paints a formerly bleak, now hopeful, image of the Pima Indians of Arizona, whose windfall of water rights by the USA government can put them back on track to some measure of food self-sufficiency and healthy eating.
The picture by Monica Almeida is from the story.
The Pimas, who call themselves the Akimel O'otham ("river people") and the Maricopa Indians are Gila River tribes. Along with the Tohono O'odham Nation (formerly the Papagos) , west of Tucson, they received a big water rights settlement in 2004 that took effect this year.For the Gila River tribes (see map) it provides 653,000 acre-feet of water per year and about $680M for infrastructure and other benefits.
The Pimas lost their water over 100 years ago because of diversions by non-Indian farmers. Their agricultural way of life dissipated, as did their healthy diet. Now, obesity, alcoholism, and diabetes are prevalent, largely the result of government-provided food and more recently, fast food.
Some of the Pimas are hoping that, with the water, they will be able to return to large-scale agriculture and better nutrition. But it remains to be seen if that can be accomplished. It has been generations since the tribe practiced large-scale farming.
The water could presumably be sold or leased to non-Indian interests as well.
There's a lot more in Archibold's story, and the NYT site has a video as well.
"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." -- Native American saying (source unknown)
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