TIME - Voici la vie dans la capitale américaine de l'inégalité de l'eau. Cela pourrait être sur le point de changer
“Water is Life. People in the cities take it for granted and water their plants and grass, here it’s precious. We think of water as a deity. Water is living.”
The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project aims to deliver treated water from the San Juan River to 240,000 people via 300 miles of pipes–though its future hangs in the balance. Image from TIME Magazine.
Cet article récent du TIME Magazine explore les graves inégalités en matière d'eau dans la nation Navajo, où plus d'un tiers des familles Diné doivent transporter de l'eau sur de longues distances, payant plus pour l'eau que la plupart des Américains tout en en consommant le moins par habitant. À seulement 80 miles de là, les habitants du comté de Washington, dans l'Utah, qui partagent le même approvisionnement en eau, paient beaucoup moins et consomment beaucoup plus. Cette disparité illustre les inégalités systémiques en matière d'accès à l'eau dans l'Ouest américain, exacerbées par une méga-sécheresse qui a laissé la région plus sèche qu'elle ne l'a jamais été depuis 1 200 ans.
As part of a broader effort to address these inequalities, the federal government is developing the Post-2026 Operational Guidelines, a new water management plan that will include significant tribal input. However, skepticism remains high among Indigenous communities, particularly in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Arizona v. Navajo Nation, which ruled that the federal government has no obligation to provide water to the Navajo people. Meanwhile, the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project—a critical infrastructure initiative designed to bring water to 240,000 people—faces an uncertain future as its completion deadline approaches.
In contrast, Washington County continues to expand its water infrastructure with ambitious projects like the $2 billion Lake Powell Pipeline, reflecting the stark divide in how water resources are allocated between communities. For the Diné, water is life—a precious resource that has long been undervalued and inequitably distributed.
As Alberta navigates the complexities of groundwater sustainability in changing climatic conditions, ongoing initiatives like the Canada1Water project (C1W) provide crucial research and data for informed resource management strategies. By quantifying the effects of climate change on Canada’s water resources, the C1W project represents a critical piece of virtual water resources infrastructure that can help decision-makers and policy analysts ensure the sustainability of Canada’s critical water supply systems.
Click here to read the article at TIME
“We need to figure out how to survive with half the water, two generations down the line.”