Water Crisis in the West Leaves Native American Lands Dry

A new book titled "Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West" by Judith Nies reveals the Tragedy of the Commons unfolding across America's western states. Focusing on lands held by Native American tribes, specifically the Black Mesa of the Navajo Nation, the book highlights how the greed of politicians and corporations has led to the depletion of precious water sources and the exploitation of tribal lands for coal strip mining.

The author points the blame at politicians like Senator Barry Goldwater, Senator Harry Reid, and Congressmen Morris and Stewart Udall for enacting policies that allowed the exploitation of Native American land and water resources to occur legally, despite opposition from the native communities. These policies have led to the depletion of freshwater sources from coal mining practices and the poisoning of water with toxic uranium mining residue.

The consequences of these actions have led to tragedies like the largest nuclear disaster in American history, when a nuclear mill spill polluted the Puerco River with 94 million gallons of radioactive waste in 1979. Now, over 1300 abandoned nuclear mines continue to blow radioactive dust across the Navajo Nation, causing untold damage to the health of the Navajo people and their land.

Today, three proposed pumped hydropower projects threaten the already fragile water resources of the Black Mesa reservoir. These projects, led by CEO Dennis Payre of "Nature and People First," propose nine reservoirs and other major infrastructure that would require 450,000 acre-feet of water from the Black Mesa aquifer, Colorado, and San Juan rivers.

Judith Nies concludes that the pumping of groundwater and burning of coal have only increased in the Southwest, despite the fact that the entire urban Southwest has been relying on federal money for subsidized water. The Navajo people, among others, have been particularly impacted by these policies, suffering from the depletion of their water sources, the poisoning of their lands, and the destruction of their way of life. This book serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of mankind's greed and the urgent need to preserve our precious natural resources.